Article Review

The article that I choose was one that focused on female frog's oviposition site choice along a predation gradient as well as larval performance along this same gradient. I decided to use this article in my last blog because over the last month or so I've be doing a lot of reading on the topic of oviposition site choice to prepare for a research project this summer. I also decided to use this article because I think it's really interesting that frogs are able to take into consideration many factors that could reduce the chance of survival in their offspring when choosing an oviposition site. This article is entitled Larval Performance and Oviposition Site Preference Along a Predation Gradient and it examined the oviposition site preference of female Hyla femoralis and larval survival at these sites. The goal of the study was to show that if females chose a more suitable habitat then the chance of survival for the offspring increased.  

To conduct this research wading pools were set up with at 7 different sites in a field containing a large natural population of H. femoralis. At each site there were 8 pools arranged in a circle and 2 of the pools were fish free while the other 6 had various densities of predatory fish. Screens were submerged into the pools into keep the fish from harassing the adult frogs and from eating the larvae. Larvae in each pool were collected and counted. After this experiment was terminated the researchers examined larval performance using wading pools and fish once again. It was shown that adult females preferred to lay their eggs in pools that had a low density of predators and it was also shown that larval performance was higher in the pools that had a low density of predators. This research emphasized the correlation between oviposition site choice and larval performance. 

Rieger Josef, Christopher Binckley, William Resetarits, Jr. "Larval Performance and Oviposition Site Preference along a Predation Gradient." Ecology. 85.8 (2004). 2094-2099. 25 April 2012.