Metabolic Physiology, Locomotor Performance, and Thermal Niche Breadth in Neotropical Anurans

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Abstract
The metabolic physiology of five high-elevation anurans in the Colombian Andes (Atelopus sp. nov., Atelopus muisca, Colostethus subpunctatus, Eleutherodactylus bogotensis, and Hyla labialis) was analyzed for correlates with ife in an extreme and variable environment. I compared populations of these species at 3,500 m and 2,900 m and contrasted the results with those from lowland congenerics from Panama (Atelopus varius, Colostethus talamancae, Colostethus flotator, Eleutherodactylus diastema, Hyla microcephala, and Hyla ebraccata). I collected data on the effects of temperature on locomotor performance, the thermal sensitivity of resting and activity metabolism, and the capacity for metabolic acclimation. All five high-elevation species were able to swim through a broad temperature range, whereas low-elevation species showed little ability to move at low temperatures. None of the species studied exhibited a capacity for metabolic acclimation. However, activity metabolic rates and aerobic metabolic scopes at low temperatures were always higher in the high-elevation frogs. Apparently, similar physiological traits that facilitate activity at the low and variable temperatures that characterize the high-elevation environment evolved independently in the four genera studied.

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