Age and body size are two important demographic traits that determine the life history strategies of populations and species.We measured these two parameters of Rana amurensis,at a 900 m and a 500 m altitude site in northeastern China.At the two sites,age at first reproduction was 2 years for males and 3 years for females.The maximum age of males and females at the high-altitude site was 6 and 7 years,and 5 and 7 years at the low-altitude population,respectively.Females were significantly larger than males in both populations,due to greater age in both the high- and low-altitude sites.Body size of either males or females did not differ significantly between populations; only males showed increased body size at the high-altitude site when age effect was statistically controlled for.The increased cline of male body size may be attributable to delayed maturation of the sex due to a shorter growing season at high altitudes [Current Zoology 57 (6):781-784,2011].
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