ABSTRACT
Global change is having a dramatic impact on amphibians due to their limited capacity to disperse and to their high sensitiveness to variation in environmental conditions. In this book chapter, we comment on the main physiological mechanisms driving developmental and growth plasticity in amphibians, and the implications that these responses have for amphibians coping with anthropically-driven habitat changes. We also discuss the current knowledge on comparative amphibian studies, which provide useful insights to understand amphibian evolution and resilience. Finally, we suggest some future directions that aim to improve our current understanding on the long-term consequences of physiological responses to environmental stress in amphibians. Although the current knowledge on amphibian physiology is still limited to some groups, developmental stages, and climatic regions, amphibians arise as an ideal candidate to test for several timely questions in the field of evolutionary ecology and animal physiology.
