Frog Survival Under Pressure: Reproduction of Phrynobatrachus latifrons in Degraded Habitats | InformativeBD

Tohe Blayda,  Alla Namingonan, and Assemian N’guessan Emmanuel,  from the institute of Côte d’Ivoire. wrote a Research article about, Frog Survival Under Pressure: Reproduction of Phrynobatrachus latifrons in Degraded Habitats. Entitled, Reproduction parameters in Phrynobatrachus latifrons Ahl 1924, a frog in degraded areas of Banco National Park (Ivory Coast). This research paper published by the Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences | JBES. an open access scholarly research journal on Biodiversity. under the affiliation of the International Network For Natural Sciences| INNSpub. an open access multidisciplinary research journal publisher.

Abstract

The study of the reproductive ecology of Phrynobatrachus latifrons at the fish farm of the Banco National Park showed that the smallest mature individual measures 12.5mm in males and 17mm in females. All individuals greater than 18.9mm in males and 24.26mm in females are mature. The size of first sexual maturity (L50) calculated is 15.37mm for males against 20.20mm for females. The sex ratio, with the exception of the small rainy season is in favor of the females. Absolute fertilitymuzzle-anus length and absolute fecundity/body weight ratios showed a low correlation. The breeding activities of P. latifrons occur in the dry season as well as in the rainy season.

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Introduction

Amphibian ecology has been little studied in Africa (Channing, 2001). Nevertheless, nowadays, they are ranked the vertebrate ones the most threatened of extinction in the tropical forests (Rodrigues et al., 2004; Ernest et al., 2007). In Ivory Coast particularly, animal species such as elephants, bush pigs, buffaloes and panthers have disappeared (BELIGNE, 1994) due to deforestation, rapid population pressure and movements of human populations within most parks and nature reserves (Bakarr et al., 2001; Branch and Rödel, 2003).

Among the 11 parks and reserves in the country, the Banco National Park presents a remarkable characteristic because of its geographical position in full heart of Abidjan, the country's economic capital. This ecosystem is disrupted by logging, plantation creation and pollution (Lauginie, 2007).

These disturbances threaten the life of plant and animal communities, including amphibians, recognized among vertebrates, as being the most vulnerable to habitat destruction (Lips 1998, 1999; Raxworthy and Nussbaum, 2000; Sala et al., 2000; Lips et al., 2003).

Phrynobatrachus latifrons is a very abundant frog species on the fish farm in this park (Assemien et al. 2006). The data associated with this species we have is related to the determinism of his croaking rhythm (Blayda et al., 2008) and his diet (Blayda et al., 2015). Also, knowledge of the parameters of its reproduction would allow us to better understand the biology of this species, which is a bio-indicator of the state of health of the environment.

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Article source : Reproduction parameters in Phrynobatrachus latifrons Ahl 1924, a frog in degraded areas of Banco National Park (Ivory Coast)