Patterns of energy allocation in the cane toad, Bufo marinus, were exp
lored by analysing the seasonal variations in at bodies and gonads in
two populations subjected to different rainfall regimes and water perm
anency. In both populations? fat deposition occurred shortly after the
rainy season due to an increase in feeding activity. In contrast, the
timing of reproduction varied between sites according to the availabi
lity of suitable water bodies. Nevertheless, Females with mature oocyt
es were predominant during the dry season, even in populations that br
ed throughout the year in permanent ponds. This suggests that seasonal
variations in the nutritional condition of adults may also result in
a tendency towards cyclicity in the reproduction of B. marinus in trop
ical regions. Analyses of allometric relationships of reproductive and
storage tissues with body weights indicated that the fractions of wei
ghts in reproductive tissues did nor vary either with the size of fema
les or between populations. On the contrary, not only did larger toads
have proportionally larger far bodies, bur those from wet sites had g
reater fractions of weight allocated to Fat bodies than those from dry
sites. This suggests that reproductive output may be fixed in this sp
ecies and, therefore, excess energy is allocated to Fat bodies. Given
that the initiation of ovarian cycles depends on the restoration of pr
oper nutritional levels, energy stored in fat bodies during breeding m
ay allow females to resume a new ovarian cycle shortly after spawning
and thus maximize the number of reproductive events.