The response of amphibian larvae to environmental change is both consistent and variable

Many environments are undergoing rapid environmental change and there is a need to understand the mechanisms by which species can persist in altered environments. Model systems, such as amphibian metamorphosis, which can be generalized across many types of environmental change and across many species, are a powerful tool for understanding mechanisms that facilitate persistence in altered and disturbed environments. Amphibian larvae respond to environmental change by varying age at metamorphosis, or size at metamorphosis. Differential selection pressures on age or size at metamorphosis may result in a differential response among taxa to environmental change. Using a meta-analysis, we investigated whether age at metamorphosis, size at metamorphosis, and larval growth rate vary within and among taxonomic families of amphibians in experiments that modified the environmental temperature, density of individuals, food, hydroperiod and the presence of predators. For all environmental factors ex...诸多环境正经历快速变化，学界亟需阐明物种在改变后的环境中得以存续的内在机制。可推广应用于多种环境变化场景与多个物种类群的模式系统（如两栖动物变态发育（amphibian metamorphosis）），是阐释物种在受干扰与改变后的环境中存续机制的有力工具。两栖动物幼体可通过调整变态发生年龄或变态时的体型以响应环境变化。针对变态年龄或体型的差异化选择压力，可能导致不同两栖动物类群对环境变化产生差异化响应。本研究采用元分析（meta-analysis）方法，针对调控了环境温度、种群密度、食物资源、水文周期以及天敌存在与否的实验，探究两栖动物变态年龄、变态体型与幼体生长速率在分类科内及科间是否存在差异。针对所有环境因子……