JCSET | Watershed Studies Institute Research Symposium
Will climate change affect eco-evolutionary feedbacks?
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Graduate
Major
Wildlife Biology
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Howard Whiteman, PhD
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
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 provide ecosystem services, including nutrient cycling and inter-ecosystem subsidies, and 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 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. Mole salamanders, Ambystoma talpoideum, are a model species to test the effects of environmental variation on life history. 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. By manipulating temperature and density simultaneously, which naturally interact to create variation in paedomorph production , I will assess how climate warming may act in density-dependent fashion to fuel these feedbacks, and therefore affect the surrounding ecosystem.
Spring Scholars Week 2024 Event
Watershed Studies Institute Symposium
Will climate change affect eco-evolutionary feedbacks?
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 provide ecosystem services, including nutrient cycling and inter-ecosystem subsidies, and 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 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. Mole salamanders, Ambystoma talpoideum, are a model species to test the effects of environmental variation on life history. 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. By manipulating temperature and density simultaneously, which naturally interact to create variation in paedomorph production , I will assess how climate warming may act in density-dependent fashion to fuel these feedbacks, and therefore affect the surrounding ecosystem.