The Effect of Habitat Size on Huanren Brown Frog (Rana huanrensis) Larvae’s Growth Rate in Mt. Surak

This study was executed to know the effect of the habitat size on huanren brown frog (Rana huanrensis) larvae’s growth. We’ve conducted the study on Mt. Surak in Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul. Our study site was discriminated the huanren brown frog larvae’s habitat into the three different areas, such as small area (S1, 3.91 m²), middle area (S2, 4.42 m²), and large area (S3, 38.37m²) in the same water channel. We measured two times per a week the 15 huanren brown frog larvae’s body length, and developmental stages (foreleg, hind leg, tail length) including the environmental factors (humidity, air temperature and water temperature) of the study site from March 30 to June 28 in 2016. The only hatching rate was measured for the three egg sacs at the S2 study site. We found that the average hatching rate was 76.84 ± 18.23 (%) at S2. Generally, because of less precipitation during our study periods, all habitat areas for our study site were gradually decreased. The middle area, S2, was not reduced, the small area, S1, was reduced more than a fourth, and the largest area, S3, was drastically reduced more than half from initial area. There was no statistically difference among the three study sites for the three environmental factors (average humidity, average air temperature, and average water temperature) by F-test, but there were significant difference among the three site for the larvae’s body length (F-test p< 0.05). Therefore, the larger of habitat areas, the larger of the larvae length as well as the faster of the larvae’s developmental stages. When we measured the body lengths of immature huanren brown frogs, the immature frog of S1 was smallest, the immature frog of S3 was middle lenght, and the immature frog of S2 was largest. There were statistically different among the three study sites for the immature huanren brown frogs (F-test, p< 0.05). Because the S2 study site was relatively stable without rarely changing the study area, it meant that huanren brown frog was sensitive to habitat areas. Based on the results of this study, if we study on the effect of the altitude on the growth rate of huanren brown frog, it must be helpful in understanding the habitat environment of the population of huanren brown frog.