Dean Weesner with West Bishop, Dr. Jackson Gross, and Dr. William Karasov

Department of Wildlife Ecology, UW-Madison

Xenopus tropocalis is becoming popular as a model animal for amphibian research because of its relatively short lifespan and hardiness. In order to improve the quality of amphibian research, it is important to devise optimal methods of rearing X. tropocalis so that experiments using these animals can use healthier animals and thus achieve better results.

The focus of this experiment was to compare two methods of maintaining an aquarium habit for the frogs, static renewal and continuous flow. In a static renewal system, an aquarium's water is left to sit and is periodically emptied and refilled with fresh water. A continuous flow system functions by constantly dripping fresh water into an aquarium while old water drips out. Continuous flow systems allow for a far greater rate of water renewal. In this experiment, we raised X. tropocalis using both systems and then compared them with regard to body mass, developmental stage, and length. We found no significant deviation in size or developmental stage between the populations raised in static renewal and continuous flow environments.