Abstract
Long-term data on the morphological anomalies of four anuran species (family Ranidae) and two tailed amphibian species (families Hynobiidae and Salamandridae), inhabiting forest and urbanized areas in the eastern slope of the Middle Urals, have been studied. The morphological deviations of amphibians were investigated in terms of the module principle, which predetermines the similarity of evolutionary transformations in different taxa and limit the number of possible directions of diversification in morphogenesis. The definitive spectra and frequencies of morphological anomalies in juvenile and adult individuals are compared in the urbanization gradient. Original methodological and methodical approaches to using the potential and implemented spectra of deviation are proposed for assessing the role of the ecological component in their formation. The possibility of using deviant forms of variability for assessing the evolutionary and adaptive potentials of the species is discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alberch, P., Convergence and parallelism in foot morphology in the neotropical salamander genus Bolitoglossa. 1. Function, Evolution, 1981, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 84–100.
Altukhov, Yu.P., Geneticheskie protsessy v populyatsiyakh (Genetic Processes in Populations), Zhivotovskii, L.A., Ed., Moscow: Akademkniga, 2003.
Andrzejewski, R., Babinska-Werka, J., Gliwicz, J., and Goszczynski, J., Synurbization processes in population of Apodemus agrarius. I. Characteristics of populations in an urbanization gradient, Acta Theriol., 1978, vol. 23, pp. 341–358.
Dawson, A.B., A note on the staining of the skeleton of cleared specimens with alizarin red S, Stain. Technol., 1926, vol. 1, pp. 123–125.
Dubois, A., Anomalies and mutations in natural populations of the Rana “esculenta” complex (Amphibia, Anura), Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 1979, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 59–87.
Ferrier, D.E. and Holland, P.W., Ancient origin of the Hox gene cluster, Nat. Rev. Genet., 2001, vol. 2, pp. 33–38.
Gershenzon, S.M., Genetic polymorphism in animal populations and its evolutionary role, Zh. Obshch. Biol., 1974, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 678–684.
Gershenzon, S.M., Microevolution, polymorphism, and dominant mutations, Priroda (Moscow, Russ. Fed.), 1985, no. 4, pp. 80–89.
Hurlbert, S.H., The measurement of niche overlap and some relatives, Ecology, 1978, vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 67–77.
Inge-Vechtomov, S.G., Variability, matrix principle, and the theory of evolution, in Charl’z Darvin i sovremennaya biologiya. Tr. Mezhdunar. nauch. konf. “Charl’z Darvin i sovremennaya biologiya” (21–23 sentyabrya 2009 g., Sankt-Peterburg) (Charles Darwin and Modern Biology: Proc. Intern. Sci. Conf. “Charles Darwin and Modern Biology” (September 21–23, 2009, St. Petersburg)), St. Petersburg, 2010, pp. 49–60.
Jacob, F., Evolution and tinkering, Science, 1977, vol. 196, pp. 1161–1166.
Kawakami, Y., Esteban, C.R., Raya, M., Kawakami, H., Martí, M., Dubova, I., and Belmonte, J.C.I., Wnt/betacatenin signaling regulates vertebrate limb regeneration, Genes Develop., 2006, vol. 20, pp. 3232–3237.
Kondo, S. and Miura, T., Reaction-diffusion model as a framework for understanding biological pattern formation, Science, 2010, vol. 329, pp. 1616–1620.
Kovalenko, E.E., Trait norm effect and its theoretical value, in Evolyutsionnaya biologiya: istoriya i teoriya (Evolutionary Biology: History and Theory), St. Petersburg: Politekhnika-servis, 2003, vol. 2, pp. 66–87.
Neustroeva, N.S. and Vershinin, V.L., Skeletal deviations in anuran underyearlings under urbanization conditions, Vestn. Orenburg. Gos. Univ., 2011, no. 4, pp. 85–90.
Neustroeva, N.S., Morphological variability of the skeleton of representatives of the genus Rana under conditions of anthropogenic destabilization of the environment, in Extended Abstract of Cand. Sci. (Biol.) Dissertation, Yekaterinburg: Inst. Ekonomiki UrO RAN, 2012.
Oster, G.F., Shubin, N., Murray, J.D., and Alberch, P., Evolution and morphogenetic rules: the shape of the vertebrate limb in ontogeny and phylogeny, Evolution, 1988, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 862–884.
Rozanov, A.Yu., Zakonomernosti morfologicheskoi evolyutsii arkheotsiat i voprosy yarusnogo raschleneniya nizhnego kembriya (Laws of Morphological Evolution of Archaeocyatheans and the Problems of Longline Dismemberment of the Lower Cambrian), Moscow: Nauka, 1973.
Sheth, R., Marcon, L., Bastida, M.F., Junco, M., Quintana, L., Dahn, R., Kmita, M., Sharpe, J., and Ros, M.A., Hox genes regulate digit patterning by controlling the wavelength of a Turing-type mechanism, Science, 2012, vol. 338, pp. 1476–1480.
Shishkin, M.A., Evolution as an epigenetic process, in Sovremennaya paleontologiya. Metody, napravleniya, problemy, prakticheskoe prilozhenie: Sprav. posobie (Modern Paleontology. Methods, Trends, Problems, and Practical Application: A Handbook), Menner, V.V. and Makridin, V.P., Eds., Moscow: Nedra, 1988, vol. 2, pp. 142–169.
Shishkin, M.A., Evolution as maintenance of evolutionary stability, in Tez. konf. “Morfogenez v individual’nom i istoricheskom razvitii: ustoichivost’ i variabel’nost’,” 21–23 aprelya 2015 g. Moskva (Proc. Conf. “Morphogenesis in Individual and Historical Development: Stability and Variability”, April 21–23, 2015, Moscow), Moscow, 2015, pp. 70–75.
Timofeev-Resovskii, N.V., Yablokov, A.V., and Glotov, N.V., Ocherk ucheniya o populyatsii (Outline of the Doctrine of the Population), Moscow: Nauka, 1973.
Turing, A.M., The chemical basis of morphogenesis, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London: Ser. B, Biol. Sci., 1952, vol. 237, no. 641, pp. 37–72.
Tyler, M.J., Australian Frogs, Victoria: Penguin Books Australia Ltd., 1989, pp. 163–187.
Vavilov, N.I., Zakon gomologichnykh ryadov v nasledstvennoi izmenchivosti: Linneevskii vid kak sistema (The Law of Homologous Series in Hereditary Variability: Linnaean Species As a System), Leningrad: Nauka, 1967.
Vershinin, V.L., Significance of recessive and dominant mutations in adaptive processes of the genus Rana in the modern biosphere, in Herpetologia Bonnensis II. Proc. 13th Congr. Soc. Eur. Herpetol., Vences, M., Kohler, J., Ziegler, T., and Bohme, W., Eds., Bonn: SEH, 2006, pp. 197–200.
Vershinin, V.L., Distribution and species composition of amphibians within the municipal boundaries of Sverdlovsk, in Informatsionnye materialy Instituta ekologii rastenii i zhivotnykh (Information Materials of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology), Sverdlovsk: UNTs AN SSSR, 1980, pp. 5–6.
Vershinin, V.L., Ecological features of amphibian populations in urban areas, Extended Abstract of Doctoral (Biol.) Dissertation, Yekaterinburg: IERiZh UrO RAN, 1997.
Vershinin, V.L. and Kamkina, I.N., Proliferative activity of corneal epithelium and specific features of morphogenesis in postmetamorphic Rana arvalis Nilss. in urbanized areas, Russ. J. Ecol., 2001, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 272–276.
Vershinin, V.L., Ecological specificity and microevolution in amphibian populations in urbanized areas, in Ecological Specificity of Amphibian Populations. Advances in Amphibian Research in the Former Soviet Union, Sophia: Pensoft Publ., 2002, vol. 7, pp. 1–161.
Vershinin, V.L., Morphological deviations in population Rana arvalis Nilss. on urbanized territories: spectrum, topography, frequency, in Herpetologica Petropolitana, Ananjeva, N. and Tsinenko, O., Eds., Proc. 12th Ord. Gen. Meeting Soc. Eur. Herpetol., Russ. J. Herpetol., St. Petersburg, 2005, suppl. 12, pp. 235–237.
Vershinin, V.L., Deviant forms of morphological variability of amphibians as a method to study microevolutionary processes, in Ekologiya v vysshei shkole: sintez nauki i obrazovaniya: Mater. Vseros. nauch.-prakt. konf. 30 marta—1 aprelya 2009 g. (Ecology in Higher School: The Synthesis of Science and Education: Proc. Sci.-Pract. Conf., March 30–April 1, 2009), Chelyabinsk: Izd. Chelyab. Gos. Ped. Univ., 2009, part 1, pp. 13–19.
Vershinin, V.L., External abnormalities in the populations of the common frog (Rana temporaria L.) of the Ural mountain country, in Problemy sokhraneniya biologicheskogo raznoobraziya i ispol’zovaniya biologicheskikh resursov (Problems of Biodiversity Conservation and Use of Biological Resources), Minsk: Medzhik, 2009, part 2, pp. 406–409.
Vershinin, V.L. and Neustroeva, N.S., The role of trematode infestation in the specifics of skeleton morphogenesis of Rana arvalis Nilsson, 1842, Dokl. Biol. Sci., 2011, vol. 440, pp. 290–292.
Vershinin, V.L., Functional features of amphibian populations in a gradient of urbanization, Izv. Samar. Nauch. Tsentra RAN, 2014, vol. 16, no. 5 (1), pp. 344–348.
Vershinin, V.L., Osnovy metodologii i metody issledovaniya anomalii i patologii amfibii: Uchebnoe posobie (Basics of the Methodology and Methods of Research of Abnormalities and Pathologies of Amphibians: A Manual), Yekaterinburg: Izd. Ural. Univ., 2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © V.L. Vershinin, S.D. Vershinina, N.S. Neustroeva, 2018, published in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Biologicheskaya, 2018, No. 2, pp. 216–224.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vershinin, V.L., Vershinina, S.D. & Neustroeva, N.S. Amphibian Anomalies as a Source of Information on the Adaptive and Evolutionary Potential. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 45, 192–200 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359018010144
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359018010144