Data from: Effect of parasite infection and invasion history on feeding, growth and energy allocation of cane toads
Data files
May 18, 2024 version files 48.05 KB
Abstract
The energy allocation decisions that organisms make can differ between sexes and populations and be influenced by factors such as age and parasite infection. We conducted experimental parasite infections on common-garden reared cane toads originating from sites across the species’ invasive range in Australia to assess how sex, parasite infection and invasion history affected the toad’s food intake, growth rate and organ weights. Female toads had larger fat stores, larger livers and larger gonads than did males, reflecting increased investment into gametes. Growth rate did not differ between the sexes. Lungworm infection increased feeding by male but not female toads and increased fat storage in all toads. Fat body, liver, gonad sizes and feeding rates all differed among toads from different locations within the toad’s invasion transect across Australia, even though our measurements were made under standardized conditions on captive animals. Toads from populations close to the invasion front ate more and had heavier fatbodies, and livers than did toads from long-colonised areas, but they had smaller gonads. This pattern reflects the evolution of a more dispersive phenotype among invasive populations, whereby the rate of dispersal is enhanced by increased energy intake and storage, and delayed reproduction.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wm37pvmwd
Description of the data and file structure
Data are from an experiment where cane toads from different sites were exposed to lungworm parasites from different sites. Toads were then individually housed and maintained in captivity for 4 months. After 4 months toads were euthanized and their level of infection was determined and their gonads, liver, and fat bodies were weighed.
‘na’ indicates values that were not measured
Variables in the dataset are:
Variable explanation
ID Individual toad identifier
Treatment Control vs exposed to parasite larvae from 1 of 6 sites
Sex sex of each toad, Male or Female
Litter family identifier of each toad
toad site capture location of parental toads
toad state Australian state each toad site is located in
Exposed? Exposed to larvae Yes vs No
infected? Adult parasites present in the lungs at postmortem Yes vs No
worm state Australian state each parasite location is located in.’null’ indicates uninfected Controls
total gonad wt gonad mass(g)
fat wt fat body mass (g)
liver wt liver mass (g)
Total Rhabdias number of adult parasites in the lungs at postmortem
final SVL snout-vent length at end of study (mm)
final mass body mass at end of study (g)
start SVL snout-vent length at beginning of study (mm)
SVL2-SVL1 change in SVL during study (mm)
SVL Growth rate daily growth rate in snout-vent length during study (mm/day)
Total food eaten amount of food consumed during study (g)
Missing data code: na
Data are measures and identifying information for individual cane toads (Rhinella marina) experimentally infected with a lungworm parasite ( Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala.)