Nocturnal position in the Panamanian Golden Frog, Atelopus zeteki (Anura, Bufonidae), with notes on fluorescent pigment tracking

La rana dorada de Panamá, Atelopus zeteki, una especie en peligro de extinción, habita en los ríos de los bosques lluviosos de mediana elevación del istmo panameño. Con el propósito de conocer mejor ésta especie para su conservación, decidimos determinar los sitios de descanso nocturno de estos animales, los cuales se caracterizan por ser activos durante el día. Suponíamos que los machos adultos y los juveniles podrían ocupar micro hábitat distintos durante la noche, basándose en las diferencias en tamaños y patrones de coloración. Los resultados presentados aquí demuestran que, al caer la noche los machos adultos trepan significativamente más alto que los juveniles y que la distancia de estos movimientos desde el punto inicial hasta la posición final de descanso es también significativamente diferente. Estos cambios de posición durante el día y la noche de los machos adultos podrían estar relacionados con una conducta antipredatoria. Finalmente este estudio demuestra que con el uso de pigmentos fluorescentes es posible rastrear anfibios en los bosques lluviosos con habitates húmedos a mojados a través de distancias cortas a moderadas de manera exitosa.The endangered Panamanian golden frog, Atelopus zeteki, is a stream dweller of middle elevation rain forests of the Panamanian isthmus. In order to better understand this species for conservation, we set out to determine the nocturnal whereabouts of this diurnally active animal. It was expected that adult males and juveniles might occupy different nocturnal microhabitats based on differences in size, coloration and patterning. Findings presented here demonstrate that adult males climb significantly higher than juveniles at night and that movement distances to final resting positions also significantly differed. This change in diurnal and nocturnal position in adult males may be related to predator vigilance and avoidance. Lastly, this study demonstrated that individual rain forest amphibians can be successfully tracked over short to moderate distances in humid to wet environments using fluorescent pigments

Nocturnal position in the Panamanian Golden Frog, Atelopus zeteki (Anura, Bufonidae), with notes on fluorescent pigment tracking

The endangered Panamanian golden frog, Atelopus zeteki, is a stream dweller of middle elevation rain forests of the Panamanian isthmus. In order to better understand this species for conservation, we set out to determine the nocturnal whereabouts of this diurnally active animal. It was expected that adult males and juveniles might occupy different nocturnal microhabitats based on differences in size, coloration and patterning. Findings presented here demonstrate that adult males climb significantly higher than juveniles at night and that movement distances to final resting positions also significantly differed. This change in diurnal and nocturnal position in adult males may be related to predator vigilance and avoidance. Lastly, this study demonstrated that individual rain forest amphibians can be successfully tracked over short to moderate distances in humid to wet environments using fluorescent pigments. © 2007 Departamento de Ciências Biológicas

FIGURE 2 in Altitudinal distribution and advertisement call of Colostethus latinasus (Amphibia: Dendrobatidae), endemic species from eastern Panama and type species of Colostethus, with a molecular assessment of similar sympatric species

FIGURE 2. Color in life of Colostethus latinasus individuals. Unscaled photographs. A–C) adult female (CH 6381), SVL = 29.83 mm; D–E) adult female (CH 6389), SVL = 30.16 mm; F) adult male (CH 6402), SVL = 31.72 mm

Stability Of microbiota facilitated by host immune regulation: Informing probiotic strategies to manage amphibian disease

Microbial communities can augment host immune responses and probiotic therapies are under development to prevent or treat diseases of humans, crops, livestock, and wildlife including an emerging fungal disease of amphibians, chytridiomycosis. However, little is known about the stability of host-associated microbiota, or how the microbiota is structured by innate immune factors including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) abundant in the skin secretions of many amphibians. Thus, conservation medicine including therapies targeting the skin will benefit from investigations of amphibian microbial ecology that provide a model for vertebrate host-symbiont interactions on mucosal surfaces. Here, we tested whether the cutaneous microbiota of Panamanian rocket frogs, Colostethus panamansis, was resistant to colonization or altered by treatment. Under semi-natural outdoor mesocosm conditions in Panama, we exposed frogs to one of three treatments including: (1) probiotic - the potentially beneficial bacterium Lysinibacillus fusiformis, (2) transplant – skin washes from the chytridiomycosis-resistant glass frog Espadarana prosoblepon, and (3) control – sterile water. Microbial assemblages were analyzed by a culture-independent T-RFLP analysis. We found that skin microbiota of C. panamansis was resistant to colonization and did not differ among treatments, but shifted through time in the mesocosms. We describe regulation of host AMPs that may function to maintain microbial community stability. Colonization resistance was metabolically costly and microbe-treated frogs lost 7–12% of body mass. The discovery of strong colonization resistance of skin microbiota suggests a well-regulated, rather than dynamic, host-symbiont relationship, and suggests that probiotic therapies aiming to enhance host immunity may require an approach that circumvents host mechanisms maintaining equilibrium in microbial communities

A new rainfrog of the genus Pristimantis (Anura, Brachycephaloidea) from central and eastern Panama

Substantial molecular and morphological character differences lead us to the description of a new species of the genus Pristimantis from the cloud forest of Cerro Chucantí, Maje Mountains, Darien Province, as well as from several other mountain ranges in eastern and central Panama. Pristimantis gretathunbergae sp. nov. is a sister species to the allopatric P. erythropleura-penelopus group from northern Colombia with a mtDNA sequence divergence of > 4.4% at 16S and > 14.6% at COI. Its closest congener in sympatry is P. cruentus that differs by a large sequence divergence of > 9.6% in 16S mtDNA and 19.0% at COI, and from which it differs also by ventral and groin coloration, unusually prominent black eyes, a contrasting light upper lip, commonly a single conical to spine-like tubercle on the upper eyelid, and a larger head. While the habitat continuity at most sites in eastern Panama is moderate, habitats in central Panama are severely fragmented. Cerro Chucantí and the surrounding Maje Mountains are highly threatened by rapid deforestation and replaced by plantations and cattle pastures. Thus, investigations on the ecology of the new species and its population status, especially at the type locality, are highly recommended. As a flagship species, this new frog can help to preserve the Chucantí cloud forest including several recently described species known only from this isolated area in eastern Panama

Nocturnal Position in the Panamanian Golden Frog Atelopus Zeteki (Anura Bufonidae) With Notes on Fluorescent Pigment Tracking

The endangered Panamanian golden frog, Atelopus zeteki, is a stream dweller of middle elevation rain forests of the Panamanian isthmus. In order to better understand this species for conservation, we set out to determine the nocturnal whereabouts of this diurnally active animal. It was expected that adult males and juveniles might occupy different nocturnal microhabitats based on differences in size, coloration and patterning. Findings presented here demonstrate that adult males climb significantly higher than juveniles at night and that movement distances to final resting positions also significantly differed. This change in diurnal and nocturnal position in adult males may be related to predator vigilance and avoidance. Lastly, this study demonstrated that individual rain forest amphibians can be successfully tracked over short to moderate distances in humid to wet environments using fluorescent pigments. © 2007 Departamento de Ciências Biológicas