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Amphibians Definition
Amphibians are organism belonging to class amphibia and kingdom animalia. These organism are vertebrates, which lay eggs which further result in embryo, a process like that of fishes which will lead to metamorphosis and resulting in the development of gills. These type of organism don’t possess scales.
What are Amphibians?
- The serpent like amphibia, which do not have limbs and posses very little scales. Example is Labyrinthodonts which no longer exist as they are vanished.
- Tails as that of the salamanders and the gills of juvenile organism until the adult state is retained by the siren group.
- Tails like that of frogs.
Amphibians are vertebrates, but are tiny animals. These type of organism reside in water as well as land. When on land, they reside close to aquatic environments and are found in coastal areas. For the purpose of breathing, they had to adapt and now possess both lungs as well as gills for breathing. Amphibians transforms from water to land, during their lifecycle which is as follows:
- Spawning of frog’s egg with the aquatic habitat plants.
- After these egg’s mature as adults, they will move on the land.
- These juvenile frogs will move to the land.
- When they reach the stage where they can reproduce, they will again move to the water to lay eggs.
This process will occur again and again resulting in the production of various amphibian generation frog.
Amphibians and Early Reptiles
Initially only reptile were seen on the land, but not amphibians. Thus, the reptile evolved where their skin was water resistant, in which the young one was found. Another adaptation is although they were cold-blooded like their progenitor amphibian, they could also thrive in hot and warm conditions, including land. With these adaptations, which further evolved made them a suitable candidate to thrive on land. During that period, animals residing on land where also present and thus, reptiles co-existed in that environment.
Amphibians and Evolution
Even though land, sea and habitats like these were new for reptiles, they were brave enough to thrive and survive the degree of cooperation and competition for long term survival. During that period, no other animal had adapted to this extent and were prospering.
Another way it could be taken as, at that period the number of land organisms were quite less, who were able to thrive. This being an advantage to the reptiles as they used to feed on plant and hydroseres, found on the land. However, when these organism would have departed from their life, these are the possibilities which could have happened.
- The pioneer of reptiles and amphibians, which might have expired had been decomposed into organic compounds.
- This would have provided the required nourishment to the soil, so that plants and microorganism can thrive.
- Such type of organism will thrive on land, as they possess the ability to thrive in that habitat.
- Thus, life started to grow on land ecosystem in this cyclic process.
Approximately 230 million years ago, Triassic period emerged, where the dominant creatures seen on land were the dinosaurs.
Amphibians Citations
- Ecotoxicity of nanomaterials in amphibians: A critical review. Sci Total Environ . 2019 Oct 10;686:332-344.
- Selected Emerging Infectious Diseases of Amphibians. Vet Clin North Am Exot Anim Pract . 2020 May;23(2):397-412.
- Orthopedics in Reptiles and Amphibians. Vet Clin North Am Exot Anim Pract . 2019 May;22(2):285-300.
- Geriatric Reptiles and Amphibians. Vet Clin North Am Exot Anim Pract . 2020 Sep;23(3):485-502.
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