Martha L. Crump

• Professor (Associate) at Utah State University

This chapter addresses energetics and performance of amphibians and reptiles. Metabolic characteristics have equally profound effects on the day-to-day activities of amphibians and reptiles. Because the physiological characteristics of amphibians and reptiles are so clearly reflected in their behaviour and ecology, these animals have played an impo...

This chapter discusses intraspecific communication in amphibians and reptiles. Communication has been defined in different ways by different investigators, but central to any definition is the idea that communication involves interactions between at least two individuals, a signaler signaller and a receiver. In fact, there may be more than one sign...

This chapter considers the diversity of locomotor modes among amphibians and reptiles from a functional perspective, emphasizing the mechanics of locomotion and examining the underlying similarities observed among diverse taxa that have converged on similar locomotor patterns. The 17,000-plus extant species of amphibians and reptiles occupy habitat...

This chapter explores the reproduction and life histories of reptiles, including the behaviours associated with mating, sex determination, and embryonic development. Regardless of the nature of day-to-day social interaction, the annual cycles of nearly all reptiles include at least one social event, mating. Physiological, morphological, and behavio...

This chapter describes the reproduction and life histories of amphibians, including the behaviours associated with mating, how eggs are fertilized, sex determination, development and metamorphosis of larvae, and parental care. Reproduction is by far the most conspicuous feature of amphibian biology, and most casual observers seldom encounter amphib...

This chapter begins by describing broad patterns of diet and the foraging behavior behaviour of amphibians and reptiles. These patterns are associated with morphological, physiological, and behavioral behavioural characters that facilitate location, identification, capture, ingestion, and digestion of food items. The chapter then considers amphibia...

This chapter discusses the phylogenetic systematics and the origins of amphibians and reptiles. It begins by looking at the principles of phylogenetics and taxonomy. The chapter then traces the origins of terrestriality from aquatic ancestors and the subsequent diversification of amphibian and reptile groups, many of which are extinct and have left...

This chapter highlights patterns of movement by amphibians and reptiles, including the use of limited home ranges for normal daily activities, territoriality, migration, and dispersal. This study of movement patterns and the associated use of habitats by animals comprises the field of spatial ecology. Animals move from one place to another for many...

This chapter assesses the conservation and the future of amphibians and reptiles. Amphibian declines are occurring at a rate estimated to be 200 times that of historical extinction levels; the extent of decline varies from region to region and within and among species. Reptiles may be in even greater danger of extinction than amphibians are, but we...

This chapter discusses intraspecific communication in amphibians and reptiles. Communication has been defined in different ways by different investigators, but central to any definition is the idea that communication involves interactions between at least two individuals, a signaler signaller and a receiver. In fact, there may be more than one sign...

This chapter focuses on the aggregate properties of populations and species assemblages. It starts by discussing the demographic attributes of populations. Demography is the study of statistical properties of populations, including population size (i.e., the number of individuals), birth and death rates, age structure, and population growth rate. T...

This chapter evaluates the systematics and diversity of extant reptiles. Extant reptiles, encompassing Testudines (turtles), Rhynchocephalia (tuatara), Squamata (lizards and snakes), Crocodylia (alligators, crocodiles, and gharials), and Aves (birds), include more than 20,000 extant species and countless fossil forms. About half of these species ar...

This chapter examines the systematics and diversity of extant amphibians. It begins by discussing several important morphological and physiological traits that characterize amphibians. Herpetologists use two different measurements of amphibian body length, and most amphibians are small in terms of both length and weight. Amphibians share numerous o...

This chapter focuses on the biogeography of amphibians and reptiles. Biogeography combines information about natural history, phylogeny, geology, and climate to interpret the past and present distributions of taxa. It describes patterns of occurrence to understand the forces that create and maintain them. Two mechanisms—dispersal and vicariance—are...

This chapter assesses biophysical ecology, which is the study of how animals exchange heat and water with their environments. Reptiles and amphibians have been especially important in the development of this field because interaction with the physical environment is such a conspicuous part of their lives. Regulating the amount of water in the body...

This chapter demonstrates that amphibians and reptiles exhibit an extraordinary diversity of feeding modes, mirroring their range of habitats and the wide variety of foods consumed in water or on land. Most species are carnivorous and prey capture is enhanced in several groups by the use of a projectile tongue, which is fired from the mouth to ensn...

This chapter provides an overview of herpetology. Studies of amphibians and reptiles have played key roles in biological specializations as diverse as developmental biology, behaviour, ecology, and medicine. Many of these contributions are the result of unique characteristics that make a certain species of amphibian or reptile suitable for a partic...

Herpetology explains why amphibians and reptiles, which are distantly related evolutionary lineages, are grouped in the discipline known as herpetology, and describes the position of amphibians and reptiles within the evolution of vertebrates. Part I asks, what are amphibians and reptiles? It considers the origins, systematics, and diversity of amp...

Although most of the unique ways that frogs reproduce were described in the 1800s and 1900s, additional modes are still being discovered in the 21st Century. The concept of reproductive mode has evolved from descriptive natural history to an integration of developmental biology, genetics, systematics, evolution, ecology, behavior, and physiology th...

Stopping further global losses of amphibian populations and species requires an unprecedented conservation response.

Edge effects on tropical faunas may differ between highland and lowland sites and may therefore require different conservation strategies. In northwestern Ecuador, we examined the frog fauna on both sides of a boundary between wet Andean forest and agricultural lands, asking the following questions: ( 1 ) What is the nature of the response of frogs...

Although anuran amphibians are diverse and conspicuous in many vertebrate communities, worldwide population declines have been observed. Climatic change is a global factor that has been implicated in some of these declines. In this paper, we speculate on how Neotropical anurans might respond to changes in climate predicted by Hulme and Viner (1998)...

Despite the fascinating parental care behaviors exhibited by amphibians, relatively few quantitative studies have been published on this class in comparison to birds and mammals. Six modes of parental care are recognized: egg attendance, egg transport, tadpole attendance, tadpole transport, tadpole feeding, and internal gestation in the oviduct. Wh...

The endemic golden toad (Bufo periglenes) was abundant in Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in April–May 1987 but afterwards disappeared, along with local populations of the harlequin frog (Atelopus varius). We examine the possible relationship between these sudden declines and unusually warm, dry conditions in 1987. For our analyses of...

the golden toad, is an endangered species endemic to Costa Rica. Every year from the early 1970s through 1987 golden toads have emerged from retreats to breed during April-June. The most recent known breeding episode occurred during April-May 1987; more than 1500 adults were observed at five breeding pools, but a maximum of 29 tadpoles metamorphose...

Bufo periglenes, a toad endemic to montane Costa Rica, produces an unusually small clutch of large, yolk-rich eggs. The toads breed in small ephemeral pools that are unpredictable in duration and may be low in food availability. Two congeners, Bufo coniferus and Bufo marinus, occur nearby, breed in more permanent bodies of water that offer more foo...

Long-term field observations and experimental manipulations were made on a population of harlequin frogs, Atelopus varius, in Costa Rica to document seasonality of intra- and intersexual aggression, determine the function of aggression, and identify the factors that influence success in aggressive encounters. Both males and females defended portion...

We observed larvae of the fly Notochaeta bufonivora (Sarcophagidae) feeding on harlequin frogs, Atelopus varius (Bufonidae), along a gallery forest stream in montane Costa Rica during the dry season. Harlequin frogs tended to aggregate in areas containing waterfall spray, and in these areas an individual's probability of attack by Notochaeta was gr...

We used the mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis, Poeciliidae) to test the hypothesis that the ingestion of conspecifics confers nutritional advantages to a cannibal in the form of increased growth or reproduction. We conducted two laboratory experiments in which female mosquitofish were fed one of four dried diets, one of which contained conspecifics. C...

Homing ability was examined in the neotropical frog, Atelopus varius (Bufonidae), in Costa Rica. Frogs were distributed in and along a mountain stream at 1140 m elevation. Equal numbers of frogs were displaced 10 m upstream and 10 m downstream from their original capture site. Successful homing was defined as return to within 1 m of the original ca...

Larvae of Notochaeta bufonivora (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) were found parasitizing harlequin frogs, Atelopus varius (Anura: Bufonidae) along a stream in Costa Rica during dry season. This association is unusual because these frogs, which are brightly colored, diurnal, and slow-moving, contain a potent neurotoxin (tetrodotoxin) in their integument. Fr...

Seven environmental parameters were measured in a pond in northern Florida in order to document the spatial distribution of three size classes of Rana utricularia larvae. Only the largest size class was significantly correlated with any of these parameters, and this was a negative correlation with percent sand cover. Analysis of the distribution of...

Multivariate analyses of 18 morphological variables recorded for amplectant males and females and non-amplectant males of Hyla marmorata and Triprion petasatus reveal that in both of these explosive breeding species, mating is significantly non-random. Females of H. marmorata from the relatively aseasonal environment of the Upper Amazon Basin avera...

Predictions concerning egg size and the associated within-clutch variability component were tested with tropical treefrogs, genus Hyla. It was expected that species breeding in temporary versus permanent aquatic breeding sites would exhibit significant differences in clutch parameters as a result of differing selective forces in these contrasting e...

Timing of metamorphosis and size at metamorphosis were examined for Hyla crucifer under two densities in the laboratory. Results agree with previously known relationships for ranids and bufonids: at higher densities developmental time is longer, mean size at metamorphosis is smaller, and both parameters have greater variance than at lower densities...

Clutch parameters of tropical tree frogs (genus Hyla) representing two modes of reproduction were analyzed: females of Mode 1 oviposit in standing water and the young have aquatic larval development; females of Mode 4 oviposit on vegetation above water, and upon hatching, the larvae fall into the water below and undergo aquatic larval development....

Mean values of energetic parameters are used in ecosystem studies because only crude estimates are possible when dealing with a large scope. However, when the focus is at the population level, finer resolution is possible and thus potential ontogenetic differences should be examined. Analysis of energetic parameters of a population of terrestrial s...

Ambystoma opacum is the only member of a primarily aquatic-breeding genus of salamanders that remains with its eggs after terrestrial deposition. In order to determine the energetic cost of this "parental investment," we compared dry weight, total calories, weight-specific caloric content and ash content in females that had just begun to brood with...

The intrinsic variability of traits proposed by previous authors as being important in frog locomotion was compared with the intrinsic variability of other hindlimb traits and was found to be more or less significantly less variable. This indicates more intense recent selection upon the former. In non-jumpers, Atelopus, the ratio femur:tibfib is no...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kansas, Systematics and Ecology, 1974. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-163).

Thesis--University of Kansas. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-163). Microfilm.