Variation and Diversity of the Fatty Acid Composition in Anuran Larvae in the Different Aquatic Environments

The study on trophic composition is important to understand the environmental adaptability in amphibians in ecology. The compositional differences of fatty acids in tadpoles that live in different altitudes of aquatic environment can reflect the variation of the dietary sources, which provide an important physiological understanding and prediction of ecological adaptation. The tadpoles were obtained in the stream at 500 m for Bufo gargarizans, at 1000 m for Rana chensinensis, at 1500 m for Feirana quadranus, and 2000 m for Oreolalax popei. We compared the types and composition of fatty acids in these four anuran species by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. For these four anuran species, the types of fatty acids were seven, seven, six and ten, respectively. The dominant components of fatty acids were C₁₇H₃₄O₂(16:0), C₁₉H₃₄O₂(18:2), C₁₉H₃₆O₂(18:1) and C_19H38O₂(18:0), and they had different rates among them. The results showed that the composition of anuran larvae in different altitudes of aquatic environment exhibited varied and diverse values.