The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in the Eastern United States and Canada

The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in the Eastern United States and Canada PDF Author: Arnold Brams Grobman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 56

Get Book Here

Book Description

The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in the Eastern United States and Canada

The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in the Eastern United States and Canada PDF Author: Arnold Brams Grobman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 56

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in Eastern United States and Canada

The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in Eastern United States and Canada PDF Author: Arnold B. Grobman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lungless salamanders
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in Eastern United States and Canada

The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in Eastern United States and Canada PDF Author: Arnold Brams Grobman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plethodon
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in Eastern United States and Canada

The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon in Eastern United States and Canada PDF Author: Arnold Brams Grobman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plethodon
Languages : en
Pages : 66

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders

The Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders PDF Author: Richard C. Bruce
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461542553
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 484

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume offers a state-of-the-art overview of plethodontid salamanders. Readers will find the best current understanding of many aspects of the evolution, systematics, development, morphology, life history, ecology, and field methodology of these animals.

The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethedon in Eastern United States and Canada

The Distribution of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethedon in Eastern United States and Canada PDF Author: Arnold Brams Grobman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Salamanders
Languages : en
Pages : 56

Get Book Here

Book Description


Wildlife Abstracts

Wildlife Abstracts PDF Author: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Animals
Languages : en
Pages : 826

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Relationships of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon ...

The Relationships of the Salamanders of the Genus Plethodon ... PDF Author: Richard Highton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Salamanders
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Get Book Here

Book Description
Abbreviated introduction: The North American genus Flethodon presently has more recognised forms than any other genus of salamanders. It is the type genus of the lungless family Plethodontidae, reviewed so ably by Dunn in 1926. At present, this is the most successful salamander family; over half of the living species of the Order Caudata are plethodontids. North America is the center of the distribution of the family, but one genus, Hydromantes, also occurs in Europe, and members of several genera enter the Neotropical region. Salamanders of this family occupy habitats ranging from strictly aquatic cavernicoles (lyphlomolge and haideotriton) and mountain stream dwellers (Leurognathus) to others like Plethodon, which are completely terrestrial, even to the ex-bent of laying their eggs on land. Dunn believed that Plethodon is the most primitive genus in the attached-tongue branch of the family, and that Hemidactyiium, Ensatina, Batrachoseps, and Aneides are more specialised derivtives of a Plethodonlike ancestor. In 1926, only eleven forms of Plethodon were known to Dunn. In 1943 Bishop listed 17 species (one has since been removed from the genus) and two subspecies (both are now considered different species). In 1944, Grobman reviewed the distribution and relationships of the eastern section of the genus, including some sixteen species and subspecies. There are now twenty-five forms recognized in eastern North America, with seven more in the western United States and Canada. Grobman (1944: 266) divided the eastern forms into two groups, the Large Plethodons and the Small Plethodons. He suggested that these groups might actually represent distinct genera or subgenera, but he reserved judgement in this matter until the relationship of the western species with the eastern forms could be determined. One of the purposes of the present study is to determine these relationships by a comparative study of the morphology of all the species of the genus Plethodon. Of the twenty-five genera in the family Plethodontidae, only two others show as great or greater disjunctions in their distributions as that found in Plethodon, These are hydromantes, with two forms in Europe and three species in California, and Aneides, with four species in western North America and one in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. In the past two decades, several new plethodons have been discovered in both eastern and western North America. A review of the relationships of these forms offers a valuable opportunity to study the evolution of this important group of North American salamanders. The importance of examining plethodons in life has been emphasized by most recent workers. Many species, particularly the Large Eastern forms, are extremely difficult to identify after years of preservation. In few other vertebrates are differential characters between species so rare. For this reason, a special attempt was made to obtain living specimens of each form. Twenty-five of the thirty-two forms recognized herein have been studied alive.

The Historical and Ecological Biogeography of the Eastern Red-Backed Salamander (Plethodon Cinereus)

The Historical and Ecological Biogeography of the Eastern Red-Backed Salamander (Plethodon Cinereus) PDF Author: Brian P. Waldron
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Phylogeography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Patterns in the distributions of species result from numerous ecological and evolutionary processes, including competitive interactions, evolved physiological tolerances, and the historical environmental fluctuations that have caused ranges to shift, expand, or contract over long time periods. For some groups of species, these processes have resulted in an elaborate diversification of traits. For other groups, however, such as woodland salamanders (genus Plethodon), closely related species may be phenotypically similar or even identical. It is less clear what drives the formation of such species, whether and how they maintain their identities and interact after initial divergence, and how such similar species might have evolved ecologically in subtle ways to differentially utilize the landscape. The Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) is a small, fully terrestrial woodland salamander notable for its wide distribution and high phylogeographic diversity in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Most of its current distribution, however, was covered by ice sheets at the end of the Pleistocene, suggesting recent and rapid post-glacial expansion. It is not yet clear how P. cinereus colonized these landscapes, and what ecological characteristics made P. cinereus so successful in its range expansion compared to other species. Some studies comparing narrowly-distributed montane Plethodon to their lowland counterparts have suggested a combination of physiological specialization and competitive superiority of montane species relative to generalist lowland species such as P. cinereus, but it is unknown if this asymmetry applies to sets of lowland species outside of montane systems. In this dissertation, I explore the biogeography of woodland salamanders, with special attention to P. cinereus, at ecological and evolutionary time scales to uncover the processes that shape genetic diversity and species distributions. Chapters 1 and 2 concern the historical biogeography and evolution of P. cinereus, while Chapters 3 and 4 compare the habitat use of P. cinereus to two of its more broadly distributed relatives, the Northern Ravine Salamander (P. electromorphus) and the Southern Ravine Salamander (P. richmondi), to test if they have diverged ecologically, including multiple ecological scales. In Chapter 1, I used next-generation DNA sequencing to explore the phylogeographic structure and demographic history of P. cinereus, using the species as a model for the formation of incipient lineages of Plethodon. I identified several groups that diverged within the Pleistocene, yet I also found numerous and sometimes extensive regions of admixture between groups, suggesting a model of range fragmentation and fusion during incipient species formation. In Chapter 2, I focus on the most recent post-glacial expansion of P. cinereus, using DNA sequencing from range-wide samples to uncover the origins and routes of colonization. Results generally supported a southeastern coastal origin that expanded northward, westward into the Great Lakes region, and then a novel colonization route southward back into unglaciated areas. In Chapter 3, I used ecological niche modeling to test if niche differentiation between P. cinereus, P. electromorphus, and P. richmondi explains their broad distributional patterns. All species had estimated niches that were more different than expected by chance, and historical habitat suitability has fluctuated dramatically in the Holocene epoch, although I did not find strong evidence that climatic or topographic variables differentiated occurrences of P. cinereus and P. electromorphus within their overlapping distribution. Finally, in Chapter 4, I explore microhabitat differentiation between P. cinereus and P. electromorphus where they occur and interact at fine spatial scales. Plethodon cinereus greatly outnumbered P. electromorphus, and P. electromorphus used cooler, wetter microhabitats that were also occupied by P. cinereus, with no evidence for a negative correlation in their occupancies or abundances. Taken together, my work suggests that current distributions, including patterns within and between species, are shaped by historical range expansion and contractions, as well as subtle differences in habitat use at multiple spatial scales.

The Reproductive Biology of Amphibians

The Reproductive Biology of Amphibians PDF Author: D. Taylor
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1475767811
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 473

Get Book Here

Book Description