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

Journal article 735 views 97 downloads

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

PDF | Version of Record

© 2020 Orton et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
Download (1.48MB)

Check full text

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...

Full description

Published in:	PLOS ONE
ISSN:	1932-6203
Published:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57500
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

first_indexed	2021-08-02T18:51:25Z
last_indexed	2021-09-11T03:20:22Z
id	cronfa57500
recordtype	SURis
fullrecord	<?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2021-09-10T16:51:10.8131746</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>57500</id><entry>2021-08-02</entry><title>A laboratory investigation into features of morphology and physiology for their potential to predict reproductive success in male frogs</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>3ea91c154926c86f89ea6a761122ecf6</sid><ORCID>0000-0002-0072-9745</ORCID><firstname>Tamsyn</firstname><surname>Uren Webster</surname><name>Tamsyn Uren Webster</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2021-08-02</date><deptcode>SBI</deptcode><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, 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.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>PLOS ONE</journal><volume>15</volume><journalNumber>11</journalNumber><paginationStart>e0241625</paginationStart><paginationEnd/><publisher>Public Library of Science (PLoS)</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic>1932-6203</issnElectronic><keywords/><publishedDay>11</publishedDay><publishedMonth>11</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2020</publishedYear><publishedDate>2020-11-11</publishedDate><doi>10.1371/journal.pone.0241625</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Biosciences</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>SBI</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><funders>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)</funders><lastEdited>2021-09-10T16:51:10.8131746</lastEdited><Created>2021-08-02T19:51:04.6636914</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Science and Engineering</level><level id="2">School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Frances</firstname><surname>Orton</surname><order>1</order></author><author><firstname>Sofie</firstname><surname>Svanholm</surname><order>2</order></author><author><firstname>Erika</firstname><surname>Jansson</surname><order>3</order></author><author><firstname>Ylva</firstname><surname>Carlsson</surname><order>4</order></author><author><firstname>Andreas</firstname><surname>Eriksson</surname><order>5</order></author><author><firstname>Tamsyn</firstname><surname>Uren Webster</surname><orcid>0000-0002-0072-9745</orcid><order>6</order></author><author><firstname>Tamara</firstname><surname>McMillan</surname><order>7</order></author><author><firstname>Martin</firstname><surname>Leishman</surname><order>8</order></author><author><firstname>Bas</firstname><surname>Verbruggen</surname><order>9</order></author><author><firstname>Theo</firstname><surname>Economou</surname><order>10</order></author><author><firstname>Charles R.</firstname><surname>Tyler</surname><order>11</order></author><author><firstname>Cecilia</firstname><surname>Berg</surname><order>12</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>57500__20822__7eb7d7839e8848af833c7fd013f78271.pdf</filename><originalFilename>57500.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2021-09-10T16:50:05.3707809</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>1546710</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>Version of Record</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>© 2020 Orton et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language><licence>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</licence></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
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
format	Journal article
container_title	PLOS ONE
container_volume	15
container_issue	11
container_start_page	e0241625
publishDate	2020
institution	Swansea University
issn	1932-6203
doi_str_mv	10.1371/journal.pone.0241625
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str	1
active_str	0
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
_version_	1763753902852800512
score	11.037056

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

Similar Items