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Metabolic cold adaptation in the Asiatic toad: intraspecific comparison along an altitudinal gradient

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Abstract

The metabolic cold adaptation (MCA) hypothesis predicts an increase in metabolic rate and thermal sensitivity of poikilotherms from cold environments as compared to those from warm environments, when measured under standardized conditions. This compensatory response is also expected to evolve in life history and behavioral traits if the reductions in these phenotypic traits at low temperature involves in a reduction in fitness. We investigated the extent to which the level of energy intake (measured as feeding rate), energy turnover (measured as standard metabolic rate, SMR) and the energy budget (energy allocation to growth and physical activity) are influenced by climatic conditions in three populations of the Asiatic toad (Bufo gargarizans) distributed across an altitudinal gradient of 1350 m in the Qionglai Mountains of Western China. We found a similar thermal reaction norm of SMR at both population and individual levels; therefore, the data did not support the MCA hypothesis. However, there was a co-gradient variation (CoGV) for mass change rate in which the high and medium altitudinal populations displayed slower mass change rates than their counterparts from low altitudes. Moreover, this CoGV pattern was accompanied by a low feeding rate and high physical activity for the high- and medium-altitude populations. Our results highlight that adjustments in energy intake and energy allocation to behaviors, but not energy allocation to metabolism of maintenance, could act as an energetic strategy to accommodate the varied growth efficiency in Asiatic toads along an altitudinal gradient.

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Acknowledgements

The study was conceived and designed by JC and ST. Experiments were performed by ST, PL, ZY, JF; results were analyzed and interpreted by ST, JC and JF. The paper was written by JC, ST, and JF. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31370431 to JC, 31729003 to JF), the Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Department (2018JY0617 to JC) and the Biodiversity Survey and Assessment Project of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China (2019HJ2096001006 to JC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Song Tan, Ping Li, Zhongyi Yao, Gaohui Liu, Jinzhong Fu & Jingfeng Chen

  2. College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Song Tan, Zhongyi Yao & Bisong Yue

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19 (A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China

    Song Tan, Ping Li, Zhongyi Yao & Jingfeng Chen

  4. Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, No.8, Dayangfang, Beiyuan, Beijing, 100012, China

    Gaohui Liu

  5. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Jinzhong Fu

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  1. Song Tan
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  2. Ping Li
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  3. Zhongyi Yao
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Correspondence to Jinzhong Fu or Jingfeng Chen.

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Tan, S., Li, P., Yao, Z. et al. Metabolic cold adaptation in the Asiatic toad: intraspecific comparison along an altitudinal gradient. J Comp Physiol B 191, 765–776 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-021-01381-x

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