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Vol. 47 No. 6, 2008
Diet and Foraging of Rana sauteri and Bufo bankorensis Tadpoles in Subtropical Taiwanese Streams
Hong-Chuan Chen1, Bo-Chi Lai2, Gary M. Fellers3, Wei-Lung Wang1, and Yeong-Choy Kam2,*
1Department of Biology, National Changhua University of Education, Changhua 500, Taiwan
2Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan
3United
States Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center,
Point Reyes National Seashore, Point Reyes, CA 94956, USA
Hong-Chuan Chen, Bo-Chi Lai, Gary M. Fellers, Wei-Lung Wang, and Yeong-Choy Kam (2008) We collected 39 Rana sauteri and 18 Bufo bankorensis
tadpoles from 6 sites at the Lienhuachih Research Center in central
Taiwan from Oct. 2001 to Dec. 2002. We compared algae found in
the alimentary canal of each species with algae found on tiles placed
in the same streams. Algae collected from tiles primarily
consisted of diatoms, green algae, and blue-green algae, with diatoms
being the dominant taxa at all six of our study sites. Tadpoles
of both species consumed mostly diatoms, and the food contents were
similar between them. We found high similarities between the
algal composition on the tiles and food in the alimentary canals of the
tadpoles, suggesting that R. sauteri and B. bankorensis tadpoles are non-selective with respect to the type of algae they ingest.
Key words: Algae, Anura, Diet, Tadpoles.
*Correspondence: Tel: 886-4-23550609. Fax: 886-4-23550609. E-mail:biyckam@thu.edu.tws
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