Age Structure and Body Size of the Plateau Brown Frog (Rana kukunoris) in the Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve and Potential Climatic Impacts on Its Life History Variations.

ABSTRACT: Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve (JNNR) is a renowned World Biosphere Reserve and UNESCO-designated World Nature Heritage Site. The age structure and body size of a population are crucial for assessing the quality of habitats in which a population lives and are essential for the vertebrate conservation and management, especially for amphibians. Unfortunately, information about the life history traits of amphibians is currently unavailable in JNNR. Herein, we first estimated the age structure and body size of Rana kukunoris, which is endemic to the Eastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Then, we compared our data with 28 reported populations along an elevation gradient (1797-3450 m) and investigated how life history traits respond to climatic variations. Our results indicated the following: (1)

SUBMITTER: Zhang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10705176 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature