Dataset Information

Phylogenetic investigation of skin sloughing rates in frogs: relationships with skin characteristics and disease-driven declines.

ABSTRACT: Amphibian skin is highly variable in structure and function across anurans, and plays an important role in physiological homeostasis and immune defence. For example, skin sloughing has been shown to reduce pathogen loads on the skin, such as the lethal fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd), but interspecific variation in sloughing frequency is largely unknown. Using phylogenetic linear mixed models, we assessed the relationship between skin turnover rate, skin morphology, ecological traits and overall evidence of Bd-driven declines. We examined skin sloughing rates in 21 frog species from three continents, as well as structural skin characteristics measured from preserved specimens. We found that sloughing rate varies significantly with phylogenetic group, but was not associated with evidence of Bd-driven declines, or other skin characteristics examined. This is the first comparison of sloughing rate across a wide range of amphibian species, and creates the first database of amphibian sloughing behaviour. Given the strong phylogenetic signal observed in sloughing rate, approximate sloughing rates of related species may be predicted based on phylogenetic position. While not related to available evidence of declines, understanding variation in sloughing rate may help explain differences in the severity of infection in genera with relatively slow skin turnover rates (e.g. Atelopus).

SUBMITTER: Ohmer MEB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6408608 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Phylogenetic investigation of skin sloughing rates in frogs: relationships with skin characteristics and disease-driven declines.

Ohmer Michel E B MEB Cramp Rebecca L RL White Craig R CR Harlow Peter S PS McFadden Michael S MS Merino-Viteri Andrés A Pessier Allan P AP Wu Nicholas C NC Bishop Phillip J PJ Franklin Craig E CE

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20190201 1896

Amphibian skin is highly variable in structure and function across anurans, and plays an important role in physiological homeostasis and immune defence. For example, skin sloughing has been shown to reduce pathogen loads on the skin, such as the lethal fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd), but interspecific variation in sloughing frequency is largely unknown. Using phylogenetic linear mixed models, we assessed the relationship between skin turnover rate, skin morphology, ecological traits ...[more]

PMID: 30963925

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Project description:The alsodid ground frogs of the Eupsophus genus are divided into two groups, the roseus (2n = 30) and vertebralis (2n = 28), which are distributed throughout the temperate Nothofagus forests of South America. Currently, the roseus group is composed by four species, while the vertebralis group consists of two. Phylogenetic relationships and species delimitation within each group are controversial. In fact, previous analyses considered that the roseus group was composed of between four to nine species. In this work, we evaluated phylogenetic relationships, diversification times, and species delimitation within the roseus group using a multi-locus dataset. For this purpose, mitochondrial (D-loop, Cyt b, and COI) and nuclear (POMC and CRYBA1) partial sequences from 164 individuals were amplified, representing all species. Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian approaches were used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships. Species tree was estimated using BEAST and singular value decomposition scores for species quartets (SVDquartets). Species limits were evaluated with six coalescent approaches. Diversification times were estimated using mitochondrial and nuclear rates with LogNormal relaxed clock in BEAST. Nine well-supported monophyletic lineages were recovered in Bayesian, ML, and SVDquartets, including eight named species and a lineage composed by specimens from the Villarrica population (Bootstrap:>70, PP:> 0.99). Single-locus species delimitation analyses overestimated the species number in E. migueli, E. calcaratus, and E. roseus lineages, while multi-locus analyses recovered as species the nine lineages observed in phylogenetic analyses (Ctax = 0.69). It is hypothesized that Eupsophus diversification occurred during Mid-Pleistocene (0.42-0.14 Mya), with most species having originated after the Last Southern Patagonian Glaciation (0.18 Mya). Our results revitalize the hypothesis that the E. roseus group is composed of eight species and support the Villarrica lineage as a new putative species.

Dataset Information

Phylogenetic investigation of skin sloughing rates in frogs: relationships with skin characteristics and disease-driven declines.

Publications

Phylogenetic investigation of skin sloughing rates in frogs: relationships with skin characteristics and disease-driven declines.

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