Thyroid hormone (T(3)) influences cell proliferation, death and differentiation during development of the central nervous system (CNS). Hormone action is mediated by T(3) receptors (TR) of which there are two subtypes, TRalpha and TRbeta. Specific roles for TR subtypes in CNS development are poorly understood. We analyzed involvement of TRalpha and TRbeta in neural cell proliferation during met...

Decreased plant diversity is expected to reduce ecosystem function. Although many studies have examined eff ects of plant species on trophic interactions, information regarding eff ects of native or non-native plant diversity on performance of individuals of higher trophic levels is limited. We reared larval American toad Anaxyrus americanus tadpoles in outdoor mesocosms containing litter of 1,...

BACKGROUND Global warming has been frequently demonstrated to increase growth rate in larval amphibians that have considerable phenotypic plasticity; this may lead to an increase in larval survival because large larvae are less likely to be captured by gape-limited predators. This study is to test whether warming could improve tadpole growth and thereby enhance the tadpole survival in plateau f...

The haemoglobins of Xenopus laevis have been studied by carboxymethyl-cellulose column chromatography and by polyacrylamide gel disk electrophoresis. In Xenopus tadpoles, 2 haemoglobins are found (Xenopus-HbFx and Xenopus-HbF^). Both haemoglobins persist throughout tadpole life: Xenopus-HbF\ is the main tadpole haemoglobin; Xenopus-HbFt is present in rather smaller amounts. The proportion of Xe...

Organ regenerative ability depends on the animal species and the developmental stage. The molecular bases for variable organ regenerative ability, however, remain unknown. Previous studies have identified genes preferentially expressed in the blastema tissues in various animals, but transcriptome analysis of the isolated proliferating blastema cells has not yet been reported. In the present stu...

Amphibian predator-insect prey relationships are common in terrestrial habitats, but amphibian larvae are preyed upon by a variety of aquatic hemipterans in aquatic habitats. This paper suggests that the survival of the nymphs of the endangered aquatic hemipteran Kirkaldyia (=Lethocerus) deyrolli (Belostomatidae: Heteroptera) is directly and indirectly affected by the abundance of their amphibi...

I experimentally investigated the habitat use preferences of bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) tadpoles of different ages (early, first-year vs. late, second-year, premetamorphic) in the laboratory. Early tadpoles showed a preference for non-vegetated areas, whereas late tadpoles showed no preference. Early tadpoles were seen more often over small, gravel substrate as opposed to large rocks, whereas ...

The use of frogs and tadpoles for disease vector control is still largely unexplored. Frogs are an important part of the ecosystem with a role for insect and pest control including mosquitoes. Available information suggests the existence of many direct and indirect factors affecting the growth and survival of both prey and predators. Other controphic species that have influence on this relation...

Little is known about the life history, ecology, and distribution of genus Allopaa (Dicroglossidae) far less recent data are available larvae this taxon. Here, we provide on larval stage hazarensis (Dubois & Khan, 1979) from northern Pakistan based examination three tadpoles. Specimens were obtained two sites in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Morphological genetic analysi...