97-14 Sat Jan 2 Eye-body allometry across biphasic ontogeny in anuran amphibians Shrimpton , SJ*; Streicher , JW; Gower, DJ; Bell, RC; Fujita, MK; Schott, RK; Thomas, KN; The Natural History Museum, London; University College London, London; The Natural History Museum, London; The Natural History Museum, London; California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; The University of Texas at Arlington, TX; York University, Toronto; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; The Natural History Museum, London samuel.shrimpton.18@alumni.ucl.ac.uk
Many frogs and toads (Amphibia: Anura) exhibit biphasic lifecycles, inhabiting different visual environments across ontogeny (e.g. aquatic to terrestrial). Ecological differences influence eye size across species, however, these relationships have not yet been explored across life stages in a developmental allometric context. To explore the effects of different tadpole and adult ecologies on eye-body scaling, we sampled developmental series from twelve anuran species. Of these, six species exhibited a significant change in allometric slope between tadpoles and adults. Species with benthic larvae had significantly higher slopes as tadpoles (but not as adults) than species with nektonic larvae, indicating increased relative eye growth during their aquatic life stage. We also found higher slopes in tadpoles of species with high eye investments as adults, which may relate to preparation for post-metamorphic ecologies where vision is important. Our study suggests that relative eye growth in the initial and later stages of biphasic anuran ontogenies is somewhat decoupled, and is shaped by the ecological needs of both tadpoles and adults.
