TITLE:
Studying Some Brain and Ovarian Morphological Traits in Diaglena spatulata Female Frogs Thriving in Conserved and Perturbed Habitats: A Preliminary Report and Its Implications for Amphibian Survival and Continuity
AUTHORS:
Esperanza Meléndez-Herrera, Bryan Víctor Phillips-Farfán, Fany Edith Bucio-Piña, Noemi Ramírez-Arrés, Gabriel Gutiérrez-Ospina, Ireri Suazo-Ortuño, Javier Alvarado-Díaz, Alma Lilia Fuentes-Farías
KEYWORDS:
Amphibians, Reproductive Traits, Amygdala, Medial Preoptic Area, Ovary
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.5 No.9,
August
8,
2014
ABSTRACT: Amphibians are thought to be highly susceptible to perturbed
environments. However, recent studies show that many of them are successful
inhabitants of disturbed, fragmented habitats. The source of this resilience is
yet unclear, but it may be the byproduct of having a robust phenotype and/or
the result of phenotypic plasticity. We then assessed the contribution of each
by evaluating cytological features of two brain nuclei that modulate
reproductive behavior and of the ovary, using female specimens of the frog Diaglena spatulata prospering in
conserved and disturbed areas of a tropical dry forest. Our results in the
brain show that the medial amygdala, but not the preoptic area, had a reduced
size in frogs collected in disturbed forests compared to specimens collected in
conserved forests. Both brain nuclei displayed, however, neurons with a reduced
size in frogs captured in disturbed forest patches. In contrast, ovarian
cytological features were similar between groups. Our preliminary results lead
us to propose that Diaglena spatulata female specimens might combine robust ovary and plastic brain’s phenotypic
traits to confront disturbed environments. This, however, is still a working
hypothetical framework that needs to be experimentally confirmed.