Submitted by Ian Wang on
Salamanders are an understudied vertebrate group despite containing species with the highest vulnerability and risk for decline. Under the threat of climate change, salamanders must either disperse to more suitable locations or adapt in place. Understanding the capacity of salamanders to persist through either mechanism is important for quantifying their potential for long-term persistence. The first half of this project will quantify known salamander migration and dispersal rates through a literature review. The second half of this project will be field and lab-based, exploring potentially adaptive thermal trait variation within local populations of ensatina salamanders in the Bay Area. Specifically, the student researchers on this project will assist in developing a database of known migration and dispersal distances for all salamander species through an in-depth literature review of publications and publicly available data. Additionally, the student researchers on this project will assist in fieldwork to collect ensatina salamanders and environmental variables, such as temperature, canopy cover, and humidity throughout the Bay Area. Team members will also participate in laboratory experiments using ensatina salamanders to assay thermal traits and phenotypic variation from individuals. Through this literature review and hands-on data collection, the student researchers will generate and answer hypotheses, developing an understanding of the capacity salamanders have to withstand environmental shifts under climate change.
The principal role of the student researchers involved in this project will be to partake in the research process by synthesizing findings from existing literature, collecting original data obtained from both the field and laboratory, and conducting preliminary statistical analyses. Specifically, the responsibilities of the student researcher include the following: 1) Conduct a literature review to gather known salamander migration and dispersal distances, 2) Gather ensatina salamanders and environmental data in the field, and 3) Assist in generating phenotypic data in the laboratory. All the responsibilities outlined above will be completed after training from the graduate student leading the project, with a biweekly group check-in for technical support and guidance. All the fieldwork and laboratory experiments outlined in this project (2 and 3 above) will be completed in a group setting under the supervision of the graduate student leading the project.
Student researchers should be familiar with reading scientific publications. Although there is no expectation of previous fieldwork experience, the student researcher must be willing to conduct fieldwork outdoors and be able to handle vertebrates. Some experience in statistical analysis and animal handling is recommended, but not required.