The trade‐off between maturation and growth during accelerated vertebrate development

Abstract

Developmental energetics are crucial to a species’ life history but are poorly understood mechanistically. Traditional energy and mass budgeting does not distinguish between costs of growth and maturation, making it difficult to account for accelerated development. We apply Dynamic Energy Budget theory (DEB), which exclusively considers maturation costs, to interpret empirical data on the energetics of development through metamorphosis in two related frogs, Crinia georgiana and Pseudophryne bibronii . Dry mass (2.74 in C. georgiana , 2.68 mg in P. bibron..