Studies On Hibernation Ecology Of Terrestrial Frog (Rana Limnocharis) In Shanghai Suburb Farm

Amphibian is thought to be the indicator of the health of the environment, because their infiltrative skin made them more susceptive to the quality of habitat. Rana limnocharis was one of the most distributed amphibian in Asia, and was the most distributed terrestrial frog in Shanghai. But the study on the terrestrial frog was not systematic. Winter was a crucial survival time to the amphibian because of the lower livability. To study the hibernation status of the frog was significant to the conservation of the frog, and was useful when developing the suburban areas.It was claimed that Rana limnocharis was terrestrial hibernation animal. The thesis invested the data on the hibernation ecology of terrestrial frog lived in suburb of Shanghai. The data included the body nutrition of the frog before during and after the hibernation, hibernation sites, and the mortality of indoor hibernation.The study was carried out during the September of 2006 to the April 2007. The hibernation sites and the body nutrition were studied in the field, and the indoor hibernation was carried out in the simulative environment indoors. The thesis involved a total of 598 sampled frogs and 785 hibernation caves. The results suggested that:Before hibernation Rana limnocharis spent most time in feeding to get energy for the following winter. We tested the nutrition of the terrestrial frog before hibernation. The results showed that the relative fatness, liver coefficient and fat body coefficient were not different between two sexes. But these index were different among different ages. The relative fatness of II age group was 76% higher than that of I age group, and the index of III age group was 127.27% higher than that of II age group. It was thought during the feeding time before hibernation the older frogs had more experience to feed in the better place and get more energy. It was noticed that I age group had the lower relative fatness but these frogs' liver coefficient was higher than other age groups. This means I age group stored the energy in the liver. And the fat body coefficient of III age group was highest. We thought these were due to development of gonad.The relative fatness, liver coefficient and fat body coefficient all declined significantly after the hibernation. So it was proved that the terrestrial frog consumed the energy stored in the liver and body fat organs like other amphibian during hibernation. Hibernation condition of frogs was investigated during the whole winter by borrows digging. The result showed that 38% of the frog hibernation single, and 62% individuals hibernated with others. The borrow humidity test showed that hibernation together could improve the humidity of hibernation cave significantly. The analysis of data of single hibernation borrows showed that the younger individuals hibernated in the warmer borrows. The average temperature was 15.06°C .I age group's borrow, while it was 13.75°C of III age group. But the humidity of hibernation borrow increased as frog's age older. The average humidity was 25.27% in I age group's borrows, but it was 29.51% in III age group's borrows. The analysis of different areas showed that the average body length of Baoshan area was shortest but the hibernation depth was deepest. The average depth was 11.15cm in Baoshan area and 7.93cm in Songjiang area. The temperature of hibernation was not significant different between areas.It was discussed that the relative fatness trend among ages was I age group< II age group