Environmental drivers of carry-over effects in a pond-breeding amphibian

Breeding animals confront a complex environment when deciding where to oviposit, and this decision may depend on fine-scale variation in environmental conditions that have the potential to affect not only embryos but also subsequent larvae. I evaluated the influences of two variables, light and temperature, at wood frog (Rana sylvatica (LeConte, 1825)) oviposition sites. First, in four ponds varying in canopy cover, I moved a subset of egg masses from the original oviposition site to an alternative site in the same pond and monitored embryos until hatching commenced. I found that embryos in the alternative site experienced delays in hatching an average of 2.5 days. Second, in each of the four ponds, I placed hatchlings from the two sites in enclosures throughout the pond. After two weeks, larval performance was assessed with respect to development and growth. Larvae from the alternative oviposition site gained less mass (on average 15% less) and developed more slowly (up to two Gosner stages) than larvae from the original oviposition site. Collectively, these results show that in selecting oviposition sites, wood frogs can use local cues to support high performance of their offspring and that those positive effects can carry over well into the larval period.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author