A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs

Orton, Frances; Svanholm, Sofie; Jansson, Erika; Carlsson, Ylva; Eriksson, Andreas; Webster, Tamsyn Uren; McMillan, Tamara; Leishman, Martin; Verbruggen, Bas; Economou, Theo; Tyler, Charles R.; Berg, Cecilia

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241625

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A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs

Frances Orton, Sofie Svanholm, Erika Jansson, Ylva Carlsson, Andreas Eriksson, Tamsyn Uren Webster

, Tamara McMillan, Martin Leishman, Bas Verbruggen, Theo Economou, Charles R. Tyler, Cecilia Berg

PLOS ONE, Volume: 15, Issue: 11, Start page: e0241625

Swansea University Author: Tamsyn Uren Webster

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DOI (Published version): 10.1371/journal.pone.0241625

Abstract

Amphibian populations are declining globally, however, the contribution of reduced reproduction to declines is unknown. We investigated associations between morphological (weight/snout-vent length, nuptial pad colour/size, forelimb width/size) and physiological (nuptial pad/testis histomorphology, p...

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ISSN:	1932-6203
Published:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020
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In the exposed males forelimb width/nuptial pad morphology were also associated with fertility rate. However, a more darkly coloured nuptial pad was positively associated with amplexus success across all groups and was indicative of androgen status. Our findings demonstrate the central role for nuptial pad morphology in reproductive success in S. tropicalis, however, the lack of concordance between unexposed/exposed frogs complicates understanding of the utility of features of nuptial pad morphology as biomarkers in wild populations. 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spelling	2021-09-10T16:51:10.8131746 v2 57500 2021-08-02 A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs 3ea91c154926c86f89ea6a761122ecf6 0000-0002-0072-9745 Tamsyn Uren Webster Tamsyn Uren Webster true false 2021-08-02 SBI Amphibian populations are declining globally, however, the contribution of reduced reproduction to declines is unknown. We investigated associations between morphological (weight/snout-vent length, nuptial pad colour/size, forelimb width/size) and physiological (nuptial pad/testis histomorphology, plasma hormones, gene expression) features with reproductive success in males as measured by amplexus success and fertility rate (% eggs fertilised) in laboratory maintained Silurana/Xenopus tropicalis. We explored the robustness of these features to predict amplexus success/fertility rate by investigating these associations within a sub-set of frogs exposed to anti-androgens (flutamide (50 μg/L)/linuron (9 or 45 μg/L)). In unexposed males, nuptial pad features (size/colour/number of hooks/androgen receptor mRNA) were positively associated with amplexus success, but not with fertility rate. In exposed males, many of the associations with amplexus success differed from untreated animals (they were either reversed or absent). In the exposed males forelimb width/nuptial pad morphology were also associated with fertility rate. However, a more darkly coloured nuptial pad was positively associated with amplexus success across all groups and was indicative of androgen status. Our findings demonstrate the central role for nuptial pad morphology in reproductive success in S. tropicalis, however, the lack of concordance between unexposed/exposed frogs complicates understanding of the utility of features of nuptial pad morphology as biomarkers in wild populations. In conclusion, our work has indicated that nuptial pad and forelimb morphology have potential for development as biomarkers of reproductive health in wild anurans, however, further research is needed to establish this. Journal Article PLOS ONE 15 11 e0241625 Public Library of Science (PLoS) 1932-6203 11 11 2020 2020-11-11 10.1371/journal.pone.0241625 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council Formas (CB), the Carl Trygger Foundation (CB), and MistraPharma, a research programme supported by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Mistra (CB), Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (FO), the University of the West of Scotland (FO) and the University of Exeter (CRT) 2021-09-10T16:51:10.8131746 2021-08-02T19:51:04.6636914 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Frances Orton 1 Sofie Svanholm 2 Erika Jansson 3 Ylva Carlsson 4 Andreas Eriksson 5 Tamsyn Uren Webster 0000-0002-0072-9745 6 Tamara McMillan 7 Martin Leishman 8 Bas Verbruggen 9 Theo Economou 10 Charles R. Tyler 11 Cecilia Berg 12 57500__20822__7eb7d7839e8848af833c7fd013f78271.pdf 57500.pdf 2021-09-10T16:50:05.3707809 Output 1546710 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2020 Orton et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs
spellingShingle	A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs Tamsyn Uren Webster
title_short	A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs
title_full	A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs
title_fullStr	A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs
title_full_unstemmed	A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs
title_sort	A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs
author_id_str_mv	3ea91c154926c86f89ea6a761122ecf6
author_id_fullname_str_mv	3ea91c154926c86f89ea6a761122ecf6_***_Tamsyn Uren Webster
author	Tamsyn Uren Webster
author2	Frances Orton Sofie Svanholm Erika Jansson Ylva Carlsson Andreas Eriksson Tamsyn Uren Webster Tamara McMillan Martin Leishman Bas Verbruggen Theo Economou Charles R. Tyler Cecilia Berg
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description	Amphibian populations are declining globally, however, the contribution of reduced reproduction to declines is unknown. We investigated associations between morphological (weight/snout-vent length, nuptial pad colour/size, forelimb width/size) and physiological (nuptial pad/testis histomorphology, plasma hormones, gene expression) features with reproductive success in males as measured by amplexus success and fertility rate (% eggs fertilised) in laboratory maintained Silurana/Xenopus tropicalis. We explored the robustness of these features to predict amplexus success/fertility rate by investigating these associations within a sub-set of frogs exposed to anti-androgens (flutamide (50 μg/L)/linuron (9 or 45 μg/L)). In unexposed males, nuptial pad features (size/colour/number of hooks/androgen receptor mRNA) were positively associated with amplexus success, but not with fertility rate. In exposed males, many of the associations with amplexus success differed from untreated animals (they were either reversed or absent). In the exposed males forelimb width/nuptial pad morphology were also associated with fertility rate. However, a more darkly coloured nuptial pad was positively associated with amplexus success across all groups and was indicative of androgen status. Our findings demonstrate the central role for nuptial pad morphology in reproductive success in S. tropicalis, however, the lack of concordance between unexposed/exposed frogs complicates understanding of the utility of features of nuptial pad morphology as biomarkers in wild populations. In conclusion, our work has indicated that nuptial pad and forelimb morphology have potential for development as biomarkers of reproductive health in wild anurans, however, further research is needed to establish this.
published_date	2020-11-11T04:13:17Z
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A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs

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