Data from: Water availability and temperature as modifiers of evaporative water loss in tropical frogs

Water plays a notable role in the ecology of most terrestrial organisms
due to the risks associated with water loss. Specifically, water loss in
terrestrial animals happens through evaporation across respiratory tissues
or epidermis. Amphibians are ideal systems for studying how abiotic
factors impact water loss since their bodies often respond quickly to
environmental changes. While the effect of temperature on water loss is
well known across many taxa, we are still learning how temperature in
combination with humidity or water availability affects water loss. Here,
we tested how standing water sources (availability) and temperature (26
and 36°C) together affect water loss in anuran amphibians using a Bayesian
framework. We also present a conceptual model for considering how water
availability and temperature may interact, resulting in body mass changes.
After accounting for phylogenetic and time autocorrelation, we determined
how different variables (water loss and uptake rates, temperature, and
body size) affect body mass in three species of tropical frogs (Rhinella
marina, Phyllobates terribilis, and Xenopus tropicalis). We found that all
variables impacted body mass changes with greater similarities between P.
terribilis and X. tropicalis, but only temperature showed a notable effect
in P. terribilis. Furthermore, we describe how the behavior of P.
terribilis might affect its water budget. This study shows how organisms
might manage water budgets across different environments and is important
for developing our models of evaporative water loss and species
distributions.