La Alianza por el Agua anunció ayer que presentarán un proyecto de recuperación del calàpet (Bufotes Balearicus), un sapo endémico de Balears y de las zonas húmedas de Ibiza cuyo «estado ecológico es desconocido». Precisamente, la asociación de vecinos de es Rafal Trobat creó hace tres años una balsa naturalizada para regenerar los acuíferos y recuperar esta especie. Leer más.
En total, durante las dos semanas que han durado los trabajos se han observado 353 individuos, una cifra casi 20 veces inferior a la registrada hace un año por estas mismas fechas. El problema es que si sigue sin llover, las especies más tempranas lo van a tener complicado para completar su desarrollo larvario, una situación que afecta sobre todo a especies como el sapo corredor, el sapo de espuelas o el sapillo moteado ibérico. Leer más.
Long-term maintenance of colour polymorphisms often depends on the interplay of multiple selective forces. In the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), up to three pure and two mosaic ventral colour morphs co-exist across most of its range. Available evidence suggests that colour morphs in this species are maintained through the interaction between sexual and environment-dependent selection. Leer más.
Phenotypic plasticity may allow ectotherms with complex life histories such as amphibians to cope with climate-driven changes in their environment. Plasticity in thermal tolerance (i.e., shifts of thermal limits via acclimation to higher temperatures) has been proposed as a mechanism to cope with warming and extreme thermal events. However, thermal tolerance and, hence, acclimation capacity, is known to vary with life stage. Leer más.
Due to the speed of climate changes, rapid buffering mechanisms such as phenotypic plasticity – which may depend on breeding phenology – could be key to avoid extinction. The links between phenology and plasticity, however, remain understudied. Here we explored the matching between phenology and the thermal sensitivity of standard (SMR) and routine metabolic rates (RMR), metabolic scope (i.e. the difference between RMR and SMR), survival and growth-development trajectories in larvae of a prolonged breeder amphibian Alytes almogavarii acclimated to 10 and 20°C, belonging to three cohorts: autumn pre-overwintering, autumn overwintering and spring tadpoles. Leer más.
