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High Temperature Tolerances of Bufo Hemiophrys and Bufo Cognatus
Author(s) -
Schmid William D.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1934897
Subject(s) - bufo , interspecific competition , degree (music) , microclimate , habitat , ecology , biology , zoology , geography , physics , toad , acoustics
Temperature tolerances of Bufo hemiophrys and B. cognatus were examined by exposing specimens to lethal high temperatures. Bufo cognatus was able to tolerate significantly higher temperatures than B. hemiophrys. The results yielded an estimated interspecific difference in upper lethal temperature of 2.34 degree plus or minus 0.41 degree. This different was correlated with the geographic distributions of the two species; i.e., the more southern species, B. cognatus, was able to tolerate higher temperatures. This has been taken to indicate that a physiological specialization has taken place which is adaptive for the two species in the microclimates of their respective habitats.