Temperature- and Density-dependent Effects on Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) Growth and Life History
Project Abstract
Climate warming affects global biodiversity, causing species to alter their life history and trophic interactions. Predicting the effects of climate warming on ecosystem function is a difficult task as the biological traits that lead to these responses are poorly understood and climate warming’s effects on individual taxa can be highly variable. Amphibians serve as excellent bioindicators of ecosystem health, enabling them to act as early-warning sentinels of climate change. Polyphenic amphibians, including many salamander species, are particularly useful models for understanding the ecological effects of global change because morph production is environmentally-induced. Facultative paedomorphosis is a process by which individuals can either metamorphose into terrestrial adults or retain their larval, aquatic form as mature adults. Because environmental conditions such as temperature and density affect paedomorph production, and paedomorphs are keystone predators on invertebrate communities, climate-induced changes in paedomorph production should directly affect predation of invertebrate assemblages and thus prey for future salamander populations. I am experimentally testing the effect of climate warming on mole salamander eco-evolutionary feedbacks, including the resulting predator-prey interaction between salamanders and invertebrates and subsequent carryover effects on the next generation of salamanders. I am using 36 tanks, half of which are heated to one degree Celsius above ambient and using three densities of salamanders: none, low, and high. I measure length, mass and maturity of salamanders, as well as measuring length and order of zooplankton and macroinvertebrates. By manipulating temperature and density simultaneously, which naturally interact to create variation in paedomorph production, I am assessing how climate warming may act in density-dependent fashion to fuel these feedbacks, and therefore affect the surrounding ecosystem.
Conference
Conference Name: Southeast Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation 2025 Annual Meeting
Dates: March 13-16 2025
Sponsoring Body: Southeast Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation
Conference Website: https://www.separc.org/2024-separc-annual-meeting-copy
Funding Type
Travel Grant
Academic College
Jesse D. Jones College of Science, Engineering and Technology
Area/Major/Minor
Biology / Watershed Science
Degree
M.S. in Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Classification
Graduate
Name
Dr. Howard Whiteman
Academic College
Jesse D. Jones College of Science, Engineering and Technology
Recommended Citation
Brown, Andrew, "Temperature- and Density-dependent Effects on Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) Growth and Life History" (2025). ORCA Travel & Research Grants. 187.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/orcagrants/187