Plasticity in age and size at metamorphosis in Rana temporaria - comparison of high and low latitude populations

Effects of different combinations of stressors (viz. temperature, food leve l) on growth, developmental and survival rates of Rana temporaria tadpoles from two geographically widely (approximate to 1500 km) separated populatio ns were studied in a common garden experiment. In both populations, low tem perature and low food level lead to lowered growth rates and delayed metamo rphosis, whereas high temperature and high food level had the opposite effe ct. Tadpoles from north metamorphosed earlier and exhibited higher growth r ates than tadpoles from south, suggesting local adaptation to shorter growt h period and cooler ambient temperature in north. Size at metamorphosis did not differ between the two populations, but when the differences in metamo rphic age were accounted for, then the tadpoles from north were larger than those from south. These results suggest considerable adaptive genetic diff erentiation in growth rates, size and timing of metamorphosis between north ern and southern R. temporaria populations. In both populations, high food levels tended to reduce tadpole survival rates and there was a negative cor relation between growth and survival rates across different treatments in b oth populations. In general, tadpoles from north experienced high mortality rates in high food level - low temperature treatments, whereas southern ta dpoles experienced high mortality in high food level-high temperature treat ments. This suggest that there may be genetic differences among different p opulations as how they would be influenced by high nutrient loads, such as brought along for example by fertilization of forest or agricultural soils.