Date of Award
8-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr. Richard Blob
Committee Member
Dr. Samantha Price
Committee Member
Dr. Kara Powder
Committee Member
Dr. Henry Astley
Abstract
Many organisms must contend with navigating their environments from birth. An organism could be classified as – and is often studied – in the context of locomotion through a single habitat type. However, many organisms must contend with a wide variety of environmental obstacles and substrates. What’s more, a large group of animals, Lissamphibia, do so while undergoing drastic transformation of their morphology and locomotor appendages. This transformation, term metamorphosis, typically coincides with a movement from water as a tadpole, to land as a frog or salamander. Many studies have associated this transitionary period with decreased locomotor performance and worse survival compared to amphibians pre or post metamorphosis and have termed this paradigm as the “Adaptive Peaks Hypothesis”. This body of work sought to address the generality of the Adaptive Peaks Hypothesis by studying the locomotor performance, development, and survival of a fully aquatic frog, Xenopus laevis. Swimming performance and survival of frogs across developmental stages were measured using high speed cameras and a predation tank where morphological traits were compared between (non)survivors post predation. Another subset of frogs, including aquatic X. laevis and more terrestrial L catesbianus, were used to quantify bone mineral density and material properties of developing frogs. Finally, the aquatic frog, Xenopus laevis, underwent jumping performance trials using high speed cameras and force plates to determine how well an aquatic frog could perform out of the water. The adaptive peaks hypothesis is not as robust as once thought. Xenopus laevis did not experience a performance decrease during metamorphosis, despite similar capture rates from the predators. Furthermore, the bone development of the femur differed from the more terrestrial frogs such that the less dense bones had greater stiffness in Xenopus. Finally, despite being fully aquatic, Xenopus frogs were still capable jumpers across two incline treatments with greater variability in jump performance in the more juvenile stages. Taken together, this body of work builds upon our understanding of animal locomotion by addressing how animals with complex life cycles navigate complex habitats.
Recommended Citation
Kinsey, Chase, "The Functional Implications of Anuran Metamorphosis for Survival, Locomotor Performance, and Limb Bone Mechanical Properties" (2023). All Dissertations. 3378.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/3378
Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0003-1123-1931