Ap. Lima, THE EFFECTS OF SIZE ON THE DIETS OF 6 SYMPATRIC SPECIES OF POSTMETAMORPHIC LITTER ANURANS IN CENTRAL AMAZONIA, Journal of herpetology, 32(3), 1998, pp. 392-399
All species of diurnal leaf-litter anurans in central Amazonia changed
the type and size of their prey as they grew. Postmetamorphic individ
uals of all species ate principally mites and collembolans, and larger
frogs ate larger prey of other types. The shift in prey types was not
a passive effect of selection for larger prey. There was a strong rel
ationship between electivity for prey types and frog size, independent
of electivities for prey size, in six of the seven species. This stud
y showed that most species in the community had strong ontogenetic cha
nges in diet composition and electivity for prey types, and these chan
ges did not conform to simple models of the effects of predator size a
nd diet quality.