Morphology and escape performance of tiger salamander larvae (Ambystoma tigrinum mavortium)

The ability of an individual to escape predators is an important component of fitness. Several adaptive explanations of body shape variation in amphibians hypothesize relationships between swimming performance and morphology, but these ideas have rarely been tested. Here we investigate bivariate and multivariate relationships between natural variation in morphology and performance. We used high-speed video to examine fast-starts associated with escape responses in small tiger salamander larvae (Ambystoma tigrinum). Our results indicate that performance is influenced by interactions among aspects of morphology, physiology, and behavior. Relationships between morphometric variables and velocity could be detected with multivariate, but not bivariate statistical analyses. In particular, relationships between morphology and velocity depend on tail beat frequency (potentially a measure of effort or vigor). Relationships between morphology and acceleration were detected with bivariate analyses, but multivariate analysis suggests that acceleration performance, too, depends on interactions between morphology and tail beat frequency. We found a positive relationship between tail area and propulsive performance, which supports adaptive interpretations of variation in larval tail shape within and between amphibian species.