Data from: Empirical estimation of skin resistance to water loss in amphibians: agar evaluation as a non-resistance model to evaporation
Authors/Creators
- 1. Departamento de Biodiversidade, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista
- 2. FAPESP Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo
Description
Total resistance (RT) to evaporative water loss (EWL) in amphibians is given by the sum of the boundary layer (rb) and the skin (rs) resistances. Thus, an amphibian’s rs can be determined if the rb component is defined (rs = RT - rb). The use of agar models has become the standard technique to derive empirical estimates of rb under the assumption that agar model surface imposes no barrier to evaporation (rs = 0). Herein, we evaluated the validity of this assumption by determining EWL rates and rb values from exposed surfaces of free water, agar gels prepared at various concentrations, and a physiological solution mimicking the osmotic properties of a generalized amphibian. Our results indicate that the agar material, at concentrations of 5%, provides a competent proxy to the estimation of amphibian´s boundary layer resistance, thus mimicking the evaporative properties of amphibians in the absence of a tegumental barrier.