The spatial ecology of cane toads (Bufo marinus) in tropical Australia: Why do metamorph toads stay near the water?

Austral Ecology

Volumn 33, Issue 5, 2008, Pages 630-640

  Child, Travis ^a   Phillips, Benjamin L ^a   Brown, Gregory P ^a   Shine, Richard ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Anuran; Desiccation risk; Habitat use; Seasonality

Indexed keywords

BREEDING SITE; DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; HABITAT SELECTION; HABITAT USE; LIFE CYCLE; METAMORPHOSIS; QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS; SEASONALITY; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION; TOAD; TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT;

AUSTRALASIA; AUSTRALIA;

ANIMALIA; ANURA; BUFO MARINUS; METAMORPHA;

EID: 54049123426     PISSN: 14429985     EISSN: 14429993     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2007.01829.x     Document Type: Article

References (44)

1. Andrewartha H. G. & Birch L. C. (1954) The Distribution and Abundance of Animals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
2. Arnold S. J. & Wassersug R. J. (1978) Differential predation on metamorphic anurans by garter snakes (Thamnophis): social behavior as a possible defense. Ecology 59, 1014-22.
3. Bartelt P. E. & Peterson C. R. (2005) Physically modeling operative temperatures and evaporation rates in amphibians. J. Therm. Biol. 30, 93-102.
4. Black J. H. & Black J. N. (1969) Postmetamorphic basking aggregations of the boreal toad, Bufo boreas boreas. Can. Field Nat. 83, 155-6.
5. Brown G. P. & Shine R. (2002) Influence of weather conditions on activity of tropical snakes. Aust. Ecol. 27, 596-605.
6. Brown G. P. & Shine R. (2006) Why do most tropical animals reproduce seasonally? Testing hypotheses on an Australian snake. Ecology 87, 133-43.
7. Brown G. P., Phillips B. L., Webb J. K. & Shine R. (2006) Toad on the road: use of roads as dispersal corridors by cane toads (Bufo marinus) at an invasion front in tropical Australia. Biol. Conserv. 133, 88-94.
8. Child T. (2007) The spatial and temporal ecology of metamorph cane toads (Chaunus marinus) in tropical Australia. BSc Honours Thesis, Biological Sciences, University of Sydney.
9. Christian K. A., Corbett L. K., Green B. & Weavers B. W. (1995) Seasonal activity and energetics of two species of varanid lizards in tropical Australia. Oecologia 103, 349-57.
10. Christian K. A.,Webb J. K. & Schultz. T. J. (2003) Energetics of bluetongue lizards (Tiliqua scincoides) in a seasonal tropical environment. Oecologia 136, 515-23.
11. Cohen M. P. & Alford R. A. (1993) Growth, survival and activity patterns of recently metamorphosed Bufo marinus. Wildl. Res. 20, 1-13.
12. Collins S. L. & Glenn S. M. (1991) Importance of spatial and temporal dynamics in species regional abundance and distribution. Ecology 72, 654-64.
13. DeVito J. (2003) Metamorphic synchrony and aggregation as antipredator responses in American toads. Oikos 103, 75-80.
14. Egerton F. N. (1977) History of American Ecology. Arno Press, New York.
15. Floyd R. B. (1983) Ontogenetic change in the temperature tolerance of larval Bufo marinus (Anura: Bufonidae). Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A 75, 267-71.
16. Floyd R. B. (1984) Variation in temperature preference with stage of development of Bufo marinus larvae. J. Herpetol. 18, 153-8.
17. Freeland W. J. & Kerin S. H. (1991) Ontogenetic alteration of activity and habitat selection by Bufo marinus. Wildl. Res. 18, 431-43.
18. Frost D. R., Grant T. & Fairvovich J. et al. (2006) The amphibian tree of life. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 297, 1-291.
19. Gilbert B. & Lechowicz. M. J. (2004) Neutrality, niches, and dispersal in a temperate forest understory. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 7651-6.
20. Greenlees M. J., Brown G. P.,Webb J. K., Phillips B. L. & Shine R. (2006) Effects of an invasive anuran (the cane toad Bufo marinus) on the invertebrate fauna of a tropical Australian floodplain. Anim. Conserv. 9, 431-8.
21. Griffiths A. D. & Christian K. A. (1996) Diet and habitat use of frillneck lizards in a seasonal tropical environment. Oecologia 106, 39-48.
22. Hagman M. & Shine R. (2006) Spawning site selection by feral cane toads (Bufo marinus) at an invasion front in tropical Australia. Aust. Ecol. 31, 551-8.
23. Krakauer T. (1970) Tolerance limits of the toad, Bufo marinus, in south Florida. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 33, 15-26.
24. Krebs C. J. (1994) Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, 4th edn. Harper Collins College Publishers, New York.
25. Lever C. (2001) The Cane Toad: The History and Ecology of a Successful Colonist. Westbury Academic and Scientific Publishing, Otley.
26. Levin S. A. (1992) The problem of pattern and scale in ecology. Ecology 73, 1943-67.
27. Lillywhite H. B. & Wassersug R. J. (1974) Comments on a postmetamorphic aggregate of Bufo boreas. Copeia 1974, 984-6.
28. McConnell P. J. & Millikan N. G. (1999) Vertebrates found in Cattle Egret chick regurgitates. Corella 23, 83-4.
29. Mack R. N., Simberloff D., Lonsdale W. M., Evans H.,Clout M. & Bazzaz F. A. (2000) Biotic invasions: causes, epidemiology, global consequences, and control. Ecol. Appl. 10, 689-710.
30. Madsen T. & Shine R. (1999) Rainfall and rats: climaticallydriven dynamics of a tropical rodent population. Aust. J. Ecol. 24, 80-9.
31. Mooney H. A. & Cleland E. E. (2001) The evolutionary impact of invasive species. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 5446-51.
32. Phillips B. L. & Shine R. (2005) The morphology, and hence impact, of an invasive species (the cane toad, Bufo marinus) changes with time since colonization. Anim. Conserv. 8, 407-13.
33. Phillips B. L., Brown G. P. & Shine R. (2003) Assessing the potential impact of cane toads on Australian snakes. Conserv. Biol. 17, 1738-47.
34. Polis G. A. (1981) The evolution of dynamics of intraspecific predation. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 12, 125-251.
35. Pough F. H. & Kamel S. (1984) Post-metamorphic change in activity metabolism of anurans in relation to life-history. Oecologia 65, 138-44.
36. Rempel R. S. & Kushneriuk R. S. (2003) The influence of sampling scheme and interpolation method on the power to detect spatial effects of forest birds in Ontario (Canada). Landsc. Ecol. 18, 741-57.
37. Schwarzkopf L. & Alford R. A. (1996) Desiccation and sheltersite use in a tropical amphibian: comparing toads with physical models. Funct. Ecol. 10, 193-200.
38. Seebacher F. & Alford R. A. (2002) Shelter site microhabitats determine body temperatures and dehydration rates of a terrestrial amphibian (Bufo marinus). J. Herpetol. 36, 69-75.
39. Shine R. (1991) Why do larger snakes eat larger prey items. Funct. Ecol. 5, 493-502.
40. Shine R. & Brown G. P. (2008) Adapting to the unpredictable: reproductive biology of vertebrates in the Australian wetdry tropics. Invited review. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 363, 363-73.
41. Taigen T. L. & Pough F. H. (1981) Activity metabolism of the toad (Bufo americanus): ecological consequences of ontogenetic change. J. Comp. Physiol. 144, 247-52.
42. Taylor J. M. & Calaby J. H. (2004) Reproductive strategies of Pseudomys nanus and Pseudomys delicatulus (Rodentia: Muridae) from the monsoonal tropics of the Northern Territory. Aust. J. Zool. 52, 271-82.
43. Toledo L. F., Ribeiro R. S. & Haddad C. F. B. (2007) Anurans as prey: an exploratory analysis and size relationships between predators and their prey. J. Zool. 271, 170-7.
44. Werner E. E. (1986) Amphibian metamorphosis: growth-rate, predation risk, and the optimal size at transformation. Am. Nat. 128, 319-41.