Diet Habits Of Toads (Family: Bufonidae) In Unimas Campus

• Main Author: Aqmal Syabil, Asmady
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2022
• Subjects: QL Zoology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39611/7/Aqmal%20Syabil%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39611/

Toad is an amphibious animal. Amphibians are the only vertebrate animals that live their first stage of life in water and breathe through their gills. When they reach adulthood, they move to land and breathe through their lungs and integument. As a reason, they are known as amphibian animals. The main purpose of this study is to determine the prey items of toads from Family Bufonidae in UNIMAS Campus and to measure the relationship between toad snout vent length and prey length it may consume. This study is being carried out due insufficient information of prey items consumed by toads in UNIMAS and the parameters that influence prey selection should also be investigated, whether they are dependent on prey availability, if there is any relationship between the toads' snout vent length and the length of prey eaten. This study was conducted using stomach flushing to obtain the prey items consumed by the toads. The samples were preserved in 10% formalin before further analysis of stomach content in the laboratory. For the sampling method, toads was collected at night between 1900 until 2200 and identified using visual encounter survey and acoustic encounter survey. The toad species were identified and measured. The parameters that were taken for each individual are species identification, snout-vent length, tibia length, head width length and body mass using digital calipers and Pesola. Statistical analysis in this study is Index of Relative Importance and Regression. Index of Relative Importance was used to reduce bias in the description of diet and Regression is used to determine the relationship between the prey length (minimum and maximumof each prey) and predator size (snout vent length). Based on the result obtained, the diet of toad in UNIMAS Campus mainly consist of prey items from order Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Orthoptera. This study shows that the diet habits of toads in the family Bufonidae were found to be influenced by predator snout vent length, with the larger snout vent length consuming larger prey lengths