The increasing level of the UV-B irradiation due to depleting of the ozone layer is considered to be one of the causes of global amphibian declines. The UV-B radiation causes damage to the DNA in the nuclei of the skin cells and their eventual death. In many amphibian species there was found a negative influence of the UV-B radiation on the hatching success of tadpoles and their subsequent viability. It has been assumed that tadpoles are able to actively avoid places with the higher exposure of the UV-B radiation thanks to their locomotion. In this experiment tadpoles could have chosen between a zone with the UV radiation (UV-B and UV-A) and without the UV radiation. The tadpoles have not been exposed to the UV radiation before the measurement started. The location of the tadpoles during the measurement was recorded by CCD camera. A computer program EthoVision then evaluated the time that these tadpoles spent in each of the zones and the total path length these tadpoles has swum in the zones. The measurements were performed for two groups of tadpoles differing in age to determine whether the level of development may affect the tadpoles' preference to the UV radiation. The tadpoles in both groups spent more time in the zone without the UV radiation. The tadpoles in the more advanced development phase have spent 7 times more time in average in the zone without the UV radiation than in the zone with it. The tadpoles from the second group have spent in average 2.5 times more time in the zone without the UV radiation than in the zone with the UV radiation. The total swimming path length of advanced tadpoles was almost 2.5 times longer in the zone without the UV radiation than in the zone with the UV radiation. Conversely, the total path length of younger tadpoles did not significantly differ between the zones. The total time spent in the zones with / without the UV radiation did not differ between the groups of tadpoles. Also the total path length did not differ between the groups in the zone with the UV-B radiation. However, the total path length of tadpoles had differed between groups in the zone without the UV radiation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:188393 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | KLAPKA, Vladimír |
| Source Sets | Czech ETDs |
| Language | Czech |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
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