# Auratus Tadpole Study



## jdart16 (Jun 5, 2008)

Hello all,

This next semester I will be conducting research on D. auratus tadpoles and I was looking for some suggestions or ideas.

Right now I have two ideas for experiments, one involving the effect growth inhibiting hormones have on tadpoles grown communally and an experiment reviewing growth rates in regard to tadpole diets.

For the first experiment I see it mentioned frequently about auratus and growth inhibiting hormones but I am having a very hard time finding primary literature backing up these claims in auratus aside from it being mentioned in this article http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitst...Article_BF00164001.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

I understand that it has been documented in other anurans but does anyone know of any other sources in regards to Dendrobates?

Also how would one test for levels of the growth inhibiting hormones within the water/ or identify a hormone as such?

The feeding study seems really straightforward so I have no pressing questions for that one.

If anyone has any suggestions, ideas, or advice for the experiments it would be appreciated. Also any other ideas for an experiment other than the two above involving auratus would be great.

Thanks for your time, Justin


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## frograck (May 1, 2005)

Changing water (removing poop and debris and replacing some water) versus only topping off the water and allowing all poop/debris to build up and be taken care of by the bacteria nitrogen cycle.

Maybe something about temperature or uv light.


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## jdart16 (Jun 5, 2008)

Bump

Justin


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## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

I believe there is still work to be done in tadpole diet. Granted, Repashy brought us a bunch of great products, and I for one have been tinkering with a formula but, it would be nice to see some thought driven research on the subject. As an example. I remember coming across an article on the role of extra thyroidal iodine in the cellular apoptosis cycle seen in amphibian metamorphosis. Is this correct? Are we dealing with it sufficiently? What other dietary considerations can we make to produce healthier neomorphs?


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## MoCarp (Dec 3, 2013)

would be interesting in bromeliads if they helped via plant hormones in tadpole developement and if the bromeliads benefit from haveing tads raised in them


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## jdart16 (Jun 5, 2008)

Good thoughts on the tadpole diet that is one of the avenues which I was thinking of exploring.

Any other ideas? I'm really hoping that someone can weigh in on the growth hormone idea.

Thanks for your time, Justin


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## ChRoMiS (Aug 19, 2013)

I don't know about auratus. But I've raised azureus tadpoles from the same clutch 3 individually and 3 communally. I've done this experiment twice.

Each time, the 3 separate tadpoles morphed faster to froglet stage.
In the communal setup, there was one who was much larger than the 2 others.
Even if I fed abundantly, it would make no difference, one was always larger than the others.

I still have that experiment running if you need any more info.


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## jdart16 (Jun 5, 2008)

How did the volumes of water compare?

I think the larger tadpole would just be a result of it outcompeting the other for food unless you had them share the same water but separated by some permeable material.

Thanks, Justin


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## ChRoMiS (Aug 19, 2013)

Yes its probably that, he outcompeted the others.
They were in the same body of water and had contact with each other.
The others were in the same body of water but separated and all morphed the same.


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## Fantastica (May 5, 2013)

There's an old study titled "A Feedback Mechanism of Growth Control in Tadpoles" by s. Meryl Rose, and it's a fantastic study if you can find it (and haven't already read it). Try seeing who's cited it recently to get a better idea of what research questions people are asking these days.

Just want to point out that an awesome finding in that study was that if you grow tadpoles with say, a salamander, they grow faster. And like Chromis said, they found that there was always a larger tadpole in a group of tadpoles. 

You may want to study the evolutionary mechanism of why that self-inhibition could have benefited the species.


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## harrisbt (Feb 19, 2013)

I haven't read any literature on PDF development, so I apologize if these are redundant. What about the relationship between water temps, development time, and morph size? You could even add the communal v individual variable and set up a big ANOVA to look at everything together.


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## jdart16 (Jun 5, 2008)

Well update time,

The paperwork was just submitted and is waiting approval.

I will be looking at tadpole growth inhibition with a experimental group of 60 tadpoles.

I will try to update as time goes on.

Justin


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