Disentangling the interrelations of body mass, egg deposition site, climate and microhabitat use in frogs and salamanders

Amphibians exhibit a large diversity in reproductive and developmental strategies, which in turn are linked to their body size, life history and habitat. Here, we explore why terrestrial egg-laying frogs are on average smaller than aquatic egg-laying ones and whether this pattern exists in salamanders, too. We hypothesized that egg deposition site and body mass are not linked directly across species, but that terrestrial egg layers occur in climates and use microhabitats that favor small masses. To test this, we compiled a dataset on egg deposition site (terrestrial or aquatic), development mode (biphasic with larvae or direct development without larvae), body mass, microhabitat use (water-dependent, ground-dwelling or arboreal) and climate within their distribution area (temperature, precipitation and seasonality in both) of 3091 frog and 244 salamander species. We analyzed the interrelations between these traits and environmental factors by using a cross-species approach and phylogene..., , # Disentangling the interrelations of body mass, egg deposition site, climate and microhabitat use in frogs and salamanders

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.9cnp5hqz0](10.5061/dryad.9cnp5hqz0)

## Description of the data and file structure

The data in \"Dataset_Cejp_Griebeler.xlsx\" and \"Dataset_Cejp_Griebeler.csv\" were collected from the literature sources listed in \"Data_sources_Cejp_Griebeler.txt\". The data were used in the analyses for which the code is provided in RCode_Cejp_Griebeler.txt.

In the study, we compared body mass differences between frog and salamander species of different reproductive modes. We explored whether these differences could be a consequence of 1) thermal and hydric needs of adult individuals constraining body mass differently in different climates and microhabitats, and of 2) thermal and hydric needs of eggs constraining terrestrially egg laying species to those climates and microhabitats in which species are constrained to small adult body masses. For more deta...,