LEVEL OF PROVISION OF COMMON FROG (RANA-TEMPORARIA) WITH FOOD IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIC POPULATIONS

In the Moscow region and on Big Solovets Island in the White Sea, the authors studied the size and age composition, fertility, rate and sele ctiveness of feeding, and also the composition of food in populations of common frog (Rana temporaria). It was established that geographic d ifferences in the populations are not connected with differences in th eir food base or in the nature of its use. It is suggested that the te ndency toward slowing of sexual maturation and an increase in life spa n (in years), and the smaller body size of the frog in northern latitu des are connected with a reduction in length of the feeding season. Th e applicability of two methods of recording invertebrates (with mowing s and soil traps) to studying selectivity of the frogs' feeding is com pared.