Frog size on continental islands of the coast of Rio de Janeiro and the generality of the Island Rule.

ABSTRACT: Island Rule postulated that individuals on islands tend to dwarfism when individuals from mainland populations are large and to gigantism when mainland populations present small individuals. There has been much discussion about this rule, but only few studies were carried out aiming to reveal this pattern for anurans. Our study focused on measuring the size of individuals on islands and to find a possible pattern of size modification for insular anurans. Individuals were collected on continental islands, measured and compared to mainland populations. We selected four species with different natural history aspects during these analyses. Island parameters were compared to size of individuals in order to find an explanation to size modification. Three of the four species presented size shifti

SUBMITTER: Reboucas R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5764252 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature