DIETS OF NEWLY METAMORPHOSED AMPHIBIANS IN WEST TEXAS PLAYAS
- 1 June 2004
- journal article
- Published by Southwestern Association of Naturalists in The Southwestern Naturalist
- Vol. 49 (2), 257-263
- https://doi.org/10.1894/0038-4909(2004)049<0257:donmai>2.0.co;2
Abstract
Although amphibians are the dominant vertebrate inhabiting playa wetlands during spring and summer in the Southern Great Plains, little is known about their diet and role in playa trophic structure. Because new metamorphs are more numerous than other terrestrial life stages of amphibians, we describe the diets of recently (95%); therefore, we also examined this influence on diets of Great Plains toad metamorphs. Diets of all 3 species were dominated by coleopteran taxa, and diversity of prey taxa did not vary among species. Amount of specific prey consumed varied among species, with Great Plains toads preying more on scarab beetles and formicid ants than New Mexico spadefoots and tiger salamanders. New Mexico spadefoot metamorphs consumed more chrysomelid and elaterid beetles than tiger salama... Resumen Los anfibios son los vertebrados más abundantes durante la primavera y el verano en los lagos playa de las Grandes Planicies Sureñas. Sin embargo, poca información existe sobre su dieta y posición en la estructura trófica. Porque los recién metamorfoseados son más abundantes que los otros estadios terrestres de anfibios, describimos las dietas de animales recientemente metamorfoseados (95%), por lo que también examinamos el efecto de este factor sobre las dietas de metamorfoseados de B. cognatus. La presa principal de las tres especies fue coleóptera y no hubo diferencias entre especies en la diversidad de presas. La cantidad de presas específicas consumidas sí varió. Bufo cognatus consumió más escarabajos escárabos y hormigas formí...Keywords
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