Identifying effects of toe clipping on anuran return rates: The importance of statistical power

Abstract

Toe clipping is a common method of marking anurans for population studies. We re-analysed data from four published studies investigating the relationship between return rate and number of toes clipped for three anuran species: Bufo fowleri, Crinia signifera and Hyla labialis. Although these studies claimed contradictory results, a re-analysis of the data with proper attention to statistical power demonstrated a statistically significant decline of 6-18% in the probability of return for each toe removed after the first, in three of the four studies examined. The probability that the fourth study would detect a statistically significant effect of toe clipping was low unless the size of the eff..