ABSTRACT

Understanding the diet of tadpoles is fundamental to explain their ecological roles in aquatic food webs, as well as to allow more effective amphibian conservation and management programs. Studies on trophic ecology of tadpoles are scarce compared to other vertebrate groups, a gap that is even more accentuated in the Neotropical region, which harbors the greatest diversity of anuran species worldwide. The objective of this study was to describe the diet of the tadpole of Macrogenioglottus alipioi, from a population in southern Bahia, Brazil. Gut contents of 30 tadpoles were analyzed under light microscope. Additionally, the intestinal contents of 15 tadpoles were analyzed under a stereoscopic microscope to verify the presence of larger food items such as macroinvertebrates. Algae were the most important microscopic food item in the diet of M. alipioi tadpoles. Mites occurred in 80% of the analyzed specimens and represented the most important macroscopic food source, followed by insect fragments from dipterans, lepidopterans and spiders. The tadpoles of M. alipioi can be considered omnivorous consumers. As in benthic tadpoles from other species, diatoms, protozoans and small metazoans are considered important food sources in the diet of tadpoles. Additionally, the analysis of gut contents under a stereoscopic microscope identified several food items that were not recorded by analyses performed under light microscope.

摘要

了解蝌蚪的饮食对于解释它们在水生食物网中的生态作用以及实施更有效的两栖动物保护和管理计划至关重要。与其他脊椎动物群体相比，对蝌蚪营养生态学的研究很少，这一差距在新热带地区更为突出，该地区拥有世界上最大的无尾目物种多样性。本研究的目的是描述Macrogenioglottus alipioi蝌蚪的饮食，来自巴西巴伊亚州南部的人口。在光学显微镜下分析了 30 只蝌蚪的肠道内容物。此外，还在立体显微镜下分析了 15 只蝌蚪的肠道内容物，以验证大型无脊椎动物等较大食物的存在。藻类是M. alipioi蝌蚪饮食中最重要的微观食物。螨虫出现在 80% 的分析标本中，是最重要的宏观食物来源，其次是双翅目、鳞翅目和蜘蛛的昆虫碎片。M. alipioi的蝌蚪可以被认为是杂食性消费者。与其他物种的底栖蝌蚪一样，硅藻、原生动物和小型后生动物被认为是蝌蚪饮食中的重要食物来源。此外，在立体显微镜下对肠道内容物的分析确定了几种未通过在光学显微镜下进行的分析记录的食物。