Lecture Objectives

1. What were the problems associated with colonising land?

2. What pre-adaptations did the Devonian fishes have for

the transition to life on land?
3. What environmental conditions do we think led to this
transition?
4. What are the characteristics of the three orders of the
Class Amphibia?
5. How do different members of the Class Amphibia
reproduce? (variation within and between orders)
 Amphibians
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYWb5YRatc

Chapter 34.6
Current phylogeny of Vertebrata
Amphibians were the first vertebrate group to
move to a terrestrial environment
Problems associated with life on
land
1. Obtaining & conserving water
Life originated in water
Animals are mostly composed of water
All cellular activities occur in water
Need to protect body from desiccation
Problems associated with life on
land
2. Need watery environment for reproduction
All embryos develop in a watery
environment
Problems associated with life on
land
3. Getting oxygen from air not water
Gills do not function in air – dry out and
collapse
Oxygen ~ 20x more abundant in air
Oxygen diffuses more rapidly through air
Need moist vascularised surface for O2 to
dissolve
Problems associated with life on land
4. Gravity!
Air not buoyant – little support of body mass
Tetrapods need strong limbs and skeleton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzQ1lY5WMpc

6:55-7:50
Problems associated
with life on land
Gravity continued:
Need more efficient circulation –higher
pressure
Fish - single circulation:
heart > gills > body
Tetrapods - double circulation:
heart > lungs > heart > body
Problems associated with life on land
4. Control and/or tolerance of changes in body
temperature
Air temperature fluctuates much more than
water
Need behavioural and physiological
adaptations to cope
Problems Summary:
Desiccation/Lack of Water – adults &
embryos

Oxygen pressure/Hard to get O2 from air &

moisture required to dissolve it

Gravity/Lack of buoyancy – limbs & blood

pressure

Temperature/Lack of consistency -
thermoregulation
So why move to land?
Hazardous but great variety of habitats to exploit!
Only things on land plants & arthropods – NO
PREDATORS
Easier to find shelter for young/eggs
Pre-adaptations for life on land
Fleshy-finned fishes of Devonian had:
“Lungs” – pharyngeal out-pocketings
Double circulation system
Muscular and bony fins
Pelvic & pectoral girdles
Well-developed kidneys (marine fish must conserve water – lose water from body
fluid to seawater by osmosis)
 Modern amphibians

• Moved onto land but even the most terrestrial

depend on moist environments – glandular skin and
eggs without shells

• Many retain aquatic larval stage

 Orders of Amphibia

Anura = Frogs & Caudata = Salamanders Apoda = Caecilians

toads & newts
 Characteristics of
Amphibians
• Tetrapods, with bony skeleton
• Limbs (may be reduced or absent)
• Lungs (may be reduced or absent)
• Cutaneous Respiration – supplement
their lungs with respiration through the
skin
• Pulmonary veins
• 3- chambered heart
Characteristics of Amphibians

Ectothermic – regulate body

temperature behaviourally, not
via metabolism (not “cold-
blooded”)
Characteristics of Amphibians
Moist glandular skin
glands secrete bacteriocides, fungicides,
waxy and oily substances to prevent
desiccation
may be toxic - warning colouration
indicates toxicity to predators
Characteristics of Amphibians
Simple, sac-like lungs (or none)
3-chambered heart with double circulation
paired mesonephric kidneys
Characteristics of Amphibians
Amphibian reproduction
Separate sexes
Salamanders & caecilians: internal
fertilisation
Frogs & toads: external fertilisation
Larval stage – may be very different to adult
Order Apoda – caecilians

173 spp tropical forests Sth America, Sth Africa, SE Asia

No limbs – burrowers
Many blind as adults
Carnivorous: eat worms & invertebrates – could be
venomous…?
Fertilisation internal: male has copulatory organ
Females may be viviparous or oviparous
May have parental care, guarding eggs in underground
nests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP9X-Z3bTFM

17:49 – 20:53
 Order Caudata –
salamanders and newts
~ 553 spp, almost all northern temperate regions of world, also
in central America and northern South America
Tail; usually 4 limbs
Carnivorous – eat worms, small arthropods and molluscs
May be aquatic or terrestrial (or both at different stages of life
cycle)
Order Caudata – salamanders and newts
Reproduction

Internal fertilisation, but male has no copulatory organ

Most have aquatic larvae (tadpoles) and terrestrial adults

Some have aquatic larvae and adult

Some have paedomorphosis

adult retention of juvenile features (eg gills – think axolotls)

Some have fully terrestrial larvae and adults

small adults hatch from eggs
direct development (no larvae) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP9X-Z3bTFM
6:03-8:03
“Ordinary” salamander lifecycle
Salamander lifecycle with
paedomorphic “option”
 Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)

Permanantly paeodomorphic
Salamander lifecycle with
various terrestrial “options”
Order Anura – frogs and toads
~ 5200 spp; worldwide distribution
Many habitats
4 limbs, modified for jumping
- long back & short front legs
- fused radius & ulna (radioulna)
- fused tibia & fibula (tibiofibula)
- fused ankle bones
Respiration: skin, mouth and lungs
No tail in adult
Tadpole: herbivorous
Adult: carnivorous
Order Anura – frogs and toads
Reproduction
Males: advertisement calls
Amplexus
External fertilisation
Eggs usually laid into water

(but lots of variation; remember Australia very dry)

Amplexus
Anuran life cycle

(Fig. 25.25)
Frog larval stage = tadpole

Completely different morphology to adult

Most herbivorous/detritivores
Internal and external gills
Metamorphose – limbs develop (hind first), tail
absorbed
Intestine changes, mouth changes
Lungs develop, gills resorbed
 She who last had…
seperate sexes
fertilisation internal in salamanders & caecilians
fertilisation external in frogs
larval stages
parental care by male or female
internal fertilisation = female parental care
external fertilisation = male parental care
fish and frogs tend to have male parental care
salamanders & caecilians tend to have female
parental care
 Where have all the amphibians gone?

Sudden, dramatic decline in frog numbers in many countries

– commenced late 1970s

Frog declines noted throughout Australia, mostly QLD,

NSW, VIC.

Australia: 27 species endangered, rare or presumed extinct

Are declines caused by humans or a natural phenomenon?

Where have all the amphibians gone?
 Possible causes
Climate change -
elevated temperatures:
water loss
Habitat loss and
fragmentation
“Enigmatic” disease
- chytrid fungus

Extent of Population declines of Mesoamerican frogs

www.frogs.org.au
Problems associated with life on land
3. Gravity!
• Air not buoyant – little support of body mass http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=lzQ1lY5W
Mpc
• Tetrapods need strong limbs and skeleton 6:55-7:50