ABSTRACT
Be it through predator avoidance, prey pursuit, territory dominance, mate control, or any or the sum of the myriad of functions it enhances, locomotion is a paramount evolutionary force throughout the animal kingdom. And amphibians are no exception. However, several life history traits peculiar to these animals have repercussions on their locomotion that are unmatched in other groups. Starting with the fact that the ontogeny of most amphibians includes an aquatic larva plus a terrestrial post-metamorphic stage, and considering that most adults alternate terrestrial and aquatic phases, amphibian locomotion needs to be simultaneously suited for both environments. Other characteristics of amphibians, such as their concurrent ectothermy and poikilohydria or the permeability of their skin to pollutants, pose additional challenges to locomotion, a trait that is in itself subjected to numerous trade-offs. In addition, each group of extant amphibians possess a set of morphological adaptations with a huge impact on their locomotion. This chapter is intended to contextualize the amphibians in the light of the evolutionary and ecological roles of locomotion as an agent of diversification within the metazoans.
