Effect of parasite infection and invasion history on feeding, growth and energy allocation of cane toads

The energy allocation decisions that organisms make can differ between sexes and populations and be influenced by factors such as age and parasite infection. We conducted experimental parasite infections on common-garden reared cane toads originating from sites across the species’ invasive range in Australia to assess how sex, parasite infection and invasion history affected the toad’s food intake, growth rate and organ weights. Female toads had larger fat stores, larger livers and larger gonads than did males, reflecting increased investment into gametes. Growth rate did not differ between the sexes. Lungworm infection increased feeding by male but not female toads and increased fat storage in all toads. Fat body, liver, gonad sizes and feeding rates all differed among toads from different locations within the toad’s invasion transect across Australia, even though our measurements were made under standardized conditions on captive animals. Toads from populations close to the invasion f..., Data are measures and identifying information for individual cane toads (Rhinella marina) experimentally infected with a lungworm parasite ( Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala.), , # Data from: Effect of parasite infection and invasion history on feeding, growth and energy allocation of cane toads

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wm37pvmwd](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wm37pvmwd)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data are from an experiment where cane toads from different sites were exposed to lungworm parasites from different sites. Toads were then individually housed and maintained in captivity for 4 months. After 4 months toads were euthanized and their level of infection was determined and their gonads, liver, and fat bodies were weighed.

'na' indicates values that were not measured

Variables in the dataset are:

**Variable                     explanation**

ID                                Individual toad identifier

Treatment                  Control vs exposed to parasite larvae from 1 of 6 sites

Sex                              sex of each toad, Male or Female

Litter                           family identifier of each toad

toad site    ...