Niche occupancy and dietary profiling of Polypedates maculates tadpoles in temporary ponds of Northen Odisha
PDF (2209 KB) Year 2018 Vol 7 Issue 3 Document Type : ORIGINAL ARTICLE
1P. Arya Alok, 2Sushree Sangita Mohapatra 1Thinking Fox Academic Science Lab, Bhoisahi, Balasore, Odisha- 756001, India
2Department of Zoology, North Odisha University, Takatpur, Odisha, India
AbstractAll living creatures, whether plants or animals depend on the food available in the system for nourishment and energy
necessary for the completion of their life cycle. Feeding constituents are always been the important aspect of biology
of tadpoles, which is the main target of this study. Available dietary resources in the ecosystem is especially
important in tadpoles because they need to attend the early stage in very short-lived aquatic environments i.e.
temporal ponds and tadpoles need to consume food that will ensure their metamorphosis prior to drying up the pond.
Tadpoles of Polypedates maculatus were collected from temporary ponds of northern Odisha. The guts of tadpoles
were dissected out and analysed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of food consumed. Diet is basically
composed of microalgae and relatively low amount of detritus. The algae belonging to class Chlorophyceae,
Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Euglenophyceae were recorded. The numeric frequency (NF%) and frequency
of occurrence (FO%) of different food items show the species richness and abundance, which is consumed by
tadpole. Huge diversity of algal flora as tadpole’s food items are determined by the two diversity indices i.e.
Simposon and Shannon-Weiner. Niche breadth of the tadpole was analysed through Levin’s measure. The physicochemical
parameters of water signifies the pollution free tadpole’s habitat, which the support the growth and
metamorphosis of tadpoles. The diet preference and choice of algae as food indicates that the conservation of habitat
in terms of algal diversity is essential for survival and completion of their life cycle of the tadpoles for successful
survival of anurans.
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