Hettyey and his team also Buy Fifa 14 Coins discovered that temperature was a keyinfluencer of sperm motility as artificially-induced hibernation,which lowers the toad's metabolic rate and therefore itstemperature, also had a positive effect on the sperm.
The common toad proved to be a useful subject for this study asit produces all of its sperm at the start of the breeding seasonallowing the scientists to observe any degradation over time.
Discovering the environmental and biological factors whichgovern sperm senescence in wild animals could even help deal withfertility problems in humans.
We do not yet know how general post-meiotic sperm senescence isin wild animals, or man, said Richard Wagner, a co-author of thepaper. But if it turns out to be widespread, it will befascinating to see how it affects reproductive behaviour.