Adaptation allows organisms to respond to the biotic and abiotic challenges of their environments. In amphibians—whose life cycle includes both aquatic and terrestrial stages—adaptive traits can shift over time as environmental conditions change.

During the larval stage, crowding often leads to slower growth and longer development periods. However, access to diverse food sources has been shown to accelerate growth and offset the negative effects of overcrowding.

A recent paper published in Acta Herpetologica explored how water volume and food diversity interact to influence the growth and development of Bufo gargarizans gargarizans tadpoles. The researchers found that tadpoles reared in larger water volumes exhibited faster larval growth, shorter developmental periods, and greater weight and snout–vent length (SVL) at metamorphosis. These effects occurred in the absence of food limitation, chemical accumulation, or social interaction, suggesting that water volume alone can influence growth rate—though not survival.

Moreover, tadpoles provided with two food sources grew faster than those given only one. Yet, food diversity did not affect weight, SVL, or survival at metamorphosis. Interestingly, no interaction was found between water volume and food diversity, indicating that each factor independently shapes larval growth.

Read the full paper in Acta Herpetologica to learn more about these findings.

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