Question

6. Why do frogs reproduce in different environments (such as bamboo plants and ponds)? Do you think there are selective pressures that caused the bush frog to adapt its reproduction method to reproducing inside bamboo (assuming laying eggs in water is the primitive trait)? If so, name a few. If not, justify your response.

7. Consider a typical bullfrog who lays thousands of eggs in water. Because there typically is no standing water inside bamboo, do you think the bush frog has adaptations in place to prevent the embryos from dying due to lack of water? Explain. What ideas can you think of to deal with the stress of dehydration?

8. Knowing that the male bush frogs attract their mates into the bamboo, and bullfrogs attract their mates to a territory, do you think that one type of frog has a reproductive advantage over another one due to their specific living environment? Explain.

9. The bush frog has no tadpole stage and eggs hatch directly into froglets. The bull frog has a tadpole stage that is followed by metamorphosis into an adult frog. Is it reasonable to think the development of these eggs into either froglets or tadpoles is the same? In other words, do you think that the stages of embryonic development and change would be the same because these species are both frogs or do you think they would be different somehow because of their habitat? Defend your answer.

Answer 1

Bush frog reproduction inside bamboo plants.