spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Online submission spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Feder, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Gibbs, A. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Feder, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Gibbs, A. G.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 110, Issue 1 91-98, Copyright © 1984 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Functional conflicts between feeding and gas exchange in suspension-feeding tadpoles, Xenopus laevis

ME Feder, DB Seale, ME Boraas, RJ Wassersug and AG Gibbs

Air-breathing tadpoles of Xenopus laevis (Amphibia: Anura) use buccopharyngeal surfaces for both gas exchange and capture of food particles in the water. In dense food suspensions, tadpoles decrease ventilation of the buccopharynx and increase air breathing. The lung ventilatory frequency is elevated even though the rate of oxygen consumption is at or below resting levels, suggesting that the lung hyperventilation reflects compensation for decreased buccopharyngeal respiration rather than an increased metabolic requirement. If tadpoles in hypoxic water are prevented from breathing air, they increase buccopharyngeal respiration at the expense of feeding. Aerial respiration evidently permits the buccopharyngeal surfaces to be used primarily for food entrapment.




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1984