Some Studies on the Behavioral Ecology of Anuran Tadpoles

Anuran tadpoles are favorite subjects for herpetologists because of their abundance, ease of culture, diversity, and adaptive strategies. In recent years these have served as model organisms in investigating many phenomena such as aggregation structure and function, kin recognition, prey- predator interactions, phenotypic plasticity, cannibalism, etc. The book is divided into 5 chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the ability of the tadpoles to asses the profitability of food habitats and distribute acordingly (ideal free distribution) is tested. Chapter 2 deals with mechanism of food detection. In chapter 3 whether is there a repeatability of locomotor performance during different larval stages and newly metamorphosed froglets is investigated. Chapter 4 deals with jumping ability of semiterrestrial tadpoles. Chapter 5 deals with prey-predator interactions. It attempts to elucidate prey preference, mechanism of predator/prey detection and defensive behaviors in response to the predator. This book useful for the young researchers as it gives some basic designs to carry out research on anuran tadpoles either in lab or in field.

Autorentext

Dr. Dheeraj K. Veeranagoudar obtained his doctoral degree in Zoology from Karnatak University, Dharwad, India. His area of research includes behavioral ecology of herpets.Presently he has been awarded a fast track project under young scientists' scheme. He has been working in the field of herpetology for the last 7-8 years.