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Current issue: Volume 20, No. 2 (2020)
Balandiukh N., Andriishyn B., Reshetylo O. 2020. Seasonal diet differences of the Common Toad Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758) in Ukrainian Roztochia (Western Ukraine). Acta Biol. Univ. Daugavp., 20 (2): 113 – 119.
Abstract
A question of nutrition of amphibians as key-components in ecosystems is becoming increasingly important and actual. This study needs detail and regular research. We surveyed nutrient content and seasonal diet spectra of the Common Toad Bufo bufo, which is one of the key amphibian species in the forest habitats of Ukrainian Roztochia. Both traditional method (Barber traps invertebrate sampling) and improved approach for amphibian stomach contents research (Bufo bufo stomach preparation and analysis of its nutrient content was made on the specimens crushed on the roads of the region) were used. We found out that Myriapoda (23.5 %) and Diptera (17.6 %) dominate in the autumn diet of Bufo bufo, Coleoptera (54.2 %) dominate in the species’ diet in spring, and the most common victims of Bufo bufo in summer are Hymenoptera representatives, particularly Formicidae (25.6 %). The amphibian stomach contents differences can be attributable to the abundance of invertebrate taxa in the habitats
during the appropriate seasons.
Key words: Common Toad, diet, stomach contents, invertebrates, Ukrainian Roztochia,
Ukraine.
Natalia Balandiukh, Bohdan Andriishyn, Ostap Reshetylo. Ivan Franko National University
of Lviv, Hrushevskyi St. 4, Lviv 79005, Ukraine, E-mail: bohdanoksalat@gmail.com
