The importance of tadpole feeding biomechanics: Testing for effects of missing teeth on amphibian health.

My research addresses the critical problem of the declining number of anurans (frogs and toads) on our planet. There have been many suggestions about what is leading to the demise of these animals, but one factor is a fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), that attacks the mouthparts of tadpoles. This pathogen has been specifically linked to the disappearance of frogs in many parts of the world. Using high-speed video, my colleagues and I have previously shown how minor damage to tadpole mouthparts alters tadpole feeding mechanics and forces them to feed faster in order to acquire the same amount of food. With this new NSERC grant, I intend to explore this topic further by raising tadpoles, which have altered mouthparts, to metamorphosis. The purpose of these growth experiments is to understand how minor changes in tadpole mouthparts influence not only the biomechanics of their feeding, but also their long-term growth and survival. These experiments will be carried out at several different temperatures to explore how small temperature changes, such as from global climate change, can exacerbate the long-term cost to tadpoles of having damage to their mouthparts. As part of my research, I will also investigate how tadpoles from a variety of species that differ in their larval oral anatomy use those structures in feeding. Using high-speed video, I will investigate what differences in tadpole mouthparts means to their functional morphology and feeding ecology. From this research I should be able to determine how phylogeny, temperature, and morphology all influence tadpole feeding and growth. My proposed research will provide data for two critical aspects of anuran biology: how these organisms use their mouthparts in feeding and the overall biological cost of non-lethal Bd infections on tadpoles.