ArticlePloS one2013
Mechanisms and consequences of developmental acceleration in tadpoles responding to pond drying.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 151 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Growth but Not Corticosterone, Oxidative Stress, or Telomere Length Is Negatively Affected by Microplastic Exposure in a Filter-Feeding Amphibian.Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2025Article
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- The effects of a microplastic mixture on wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) across multiple life stages in an outdoor mesocosm experiment.Environmental toxicology and chemistry · 2025Article
- Validation of non-invasive methods for the measurement of gonadal and inter-renal steroid hormones in a desert-adapted amphibian (Conservation physiology · 2025Article
- Developmental plasticity to pond drying has carryover costs on metamorph performance.Conservation physiology · 2025Article
- A user's guide for understanding reptile and amphibian hydroregulation and climate change impacts.Conservation physiology · 2025Article
- The ecological function of thyroid hormones.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Review
- Chromosome-level assembly, annotation and phylome of Pelobates cultripes, the western spadefoot toad.DNA research : an international journal for rapid publication of reports on genes and genomes · 2022Article
- Change of pace: How developmental tempo varies to accommodate failed provision of early needs.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Review
- Stress hormones mediate developmental plasticity in vertebrates with complex life cycles.Neurobiology of stress · 2021Article
- Exposure Impacts of Diquat dibromide herbicide formulation on amphibian larval development.Heliyon · 2021Article
- Effects of Desiccation on Metamorphic Climax inAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Carry-Over Effects of Desiccation Stress on the Oxidative Status of Fasting Anuran Juveniles.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- Article
- Life in fluctuating environments.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Review
- Shifts in the developmental rate of spadefoot toad larvae cause decreased complexity of post-metamorphic pigmentation patterns.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Cross-Taxa Distinctions in Mechanisms of Developmental Effects for Aquatic Species Exposed to Trifluralin.Environmental toxicology and chemistry · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many amphibian species exploit temporary or even ephemeral aquatic habitats for reproduction by maximising larval growth under benign conditions but accelerating development to rapidly undergo metamorphosis when at risk of desiccation from pond drying. Here we determine mechanisms enabling developmental acceleration in response to decreased water levels in western spadefoot toad tadpoles (Pelobates cultripes), a species with long larval periods and large size at metamorphosis but with a high degree of developmental plasticity. We found that P. cultripes tadpoles can shorten their larval period by an average of 30% in response to reduced water levels. We show that such developmental acceleration was achieved via increased endogenous levels of corticosterone and thyroid hormone, which act synergistically to achieve metamorphosis, and also by increased expression of the thyroid hormone receptor TRΒ, which increases tissue sensitivity and responsivity to thyroid hormone. However, developmental acceleration had morphological and physiological consequences. In addition to resulting in smaller juveniles with proportionately shorter limbs, tadpoles exposed to decreased water levels incurred oxidative stress, indicated by increased activity of the antioxidant enzymes catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase. Such increases were apparently sufficient to neutralise the oxidative damage caused by presumed increased metabolic activity. Thus, developmental acceleration allows spadefoot toad tadpoles to evade drying ponds, but it comes at the expense of reduced size at metamorphosis and increased oxidative stress.
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