The Herpetological Journal is the Society's prestigious quarterly scientific journal. Articles are listed in Biological Abstracts, Current Awareness in Biological Sciences,Current Contents, Science Citation Index, and Zoological Record.
ISSN 0268-0130
2021 Impact Factor from Clarivate for the Herpetological Journal is 1.194, an increase of 0.332 from 2020.
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pp.302-307
Authors: J. R. Downie
Abstract: The possible functions of floating foam nests in frogs of the family Leptodactylidae were investigated using the common neotropical species Physalaemus pustulosus as an example. The results showed that:
1. The foam serves little thermal function , with foam and water temperatures being very similar, and time to
hatching in foam compared to water also being similar.
2. The foam has some limited ability to protect eggs and hatchlings from desiccation.
3. Tadpoles of another species attacked intact foam nests, and isolated eggs were palatable to aquatic insect
larvae and other tadpole species.
These results are discussed in the context of reproductive mode evolution , and other possible functions of foam - aeration and nutrition - are considered.