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Communal spawning in the common frog Rana temporaria - Egg temperature and predation consequences

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Author

  • P Håkansson
  • Jon Loman

Summary, in English

Females of the common frog, Rana temporaria, spawn synchronously at communal breeding sites, forming a communal egg mass of individual spawn clumps. A total of four spawning sites were studied. In the centre of the communal egg mass, daily maximum temperature was higher and minimum temperature lower than further out. Spawn clumps in the centre of the communal egg mass developed faster than single spawn clumps. In the centre of the egg masses, some spawn clumps suffered almost total egg mortality. This was probably the consequence of a cold spell with sub-zero temperatures in combination with a tendency for low minimum temperatures in the centre. In a laboratory study, worm leeches, Erpobdella spp., fed readily on eggs of common frog, while horse leeches, Haemopis sanguisuga, hardly ate any eggs. At the spawning sites, most worm leeches were found in single spawn clumps, far from the communal egg mass. Females which spawned late, when most of the spawning was over, preferred to spawn in the centre of the communal egg mass. This suggests that there is a net advantage for eggs in spawn clumps laid in the centre.

Publishing year

2004

Language

English

Pages

665-680

Publication/Series

Ethology

Volume

110

Issue

9

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1439-0310