The Effect of Staining on the Growth of Hyla gratiosa Tadpoles

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Abstract
An experiment was designed to determine whether staining with neutral red affects tadpole growth. H. gratiosa tadpoles stained with neutral red grew more slowly than control animals at low density, but grew no differently than controls at high density. The effect of the stain is more than a simple proportional reduction in growth, and the staining has a residual effect on the animal''s growth well after the stain itself has disappeared. The effects of the staining on growth can severely bias long-term mark-recapture studies or studies on the relationship of growth rate to other variables which use stained animals.