Collaborative Project to Understand Red-backed Salamander Population Dynamics and Climate Change Adaptation
In 2013, the Salamander Population and Adaptation Research Network started as a partnership between researchers at Penn State University and the USGS Northeast Amphibian and Research Monitoring Initiative with the intention of creating a research network to address climate adaptation and population dynamics across multiple scales. Our goals are to understand impacts of land use and climate change on salamander population dynamics and to develop a model to describe local and regional drivers of population dynamics by: 1)creating a versatile, statistically and methodologically efficient monitoring protocol, and 2)creating a network of linked observational and environmental manipulation studies.
Our focal species, the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus), is a widely distributed, common woodland species that uses habitat both on and beneath the soil surface. It is highly abundant in many forests and sensitive to environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, moisture), allowing us to make strong inferences about population dynamics and the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems. We use spatial capture-recapture analyses to estimate abundance, survival, recruitment, growth, and movement under a robust design sampling scheme.
We are currently working at ~30 locations within the range of Plethodon cinereus with collaborators at a variety of academic, governmental, and public education institutions. Each location has 3-6 arrays of 50 coverboards, which are sampling tools that facilitate capture on the soil surface by mimicking natural habitat such as fallen logs. The replicated plots are big enough to capture a population, but small enough to conduct paired experiments that enable the comparison of controls to experimental treatments. Experiments have included manipulating winter snow cover to assess possible effects of climate change on overwinter survival and changing coverboard spacing to determine if resulting inference on individual space use is affected. Using site predictors such as habitat and topography, land use history, environmental conditions, and invertebrate community, we also plan to assess effects on morphology, abundance, age class structure, demography, and occupancy dynamics.
During active seasons (fall and spring, in most areas), Plethodon cinereus are highly accessible to people of all ages and abilities in comparison to other wildlife, and occur in rural, suburban, and urban areas with forested habitat. Given these qualities, the species presents an opportunity for educators to provide learners with experiences that allow them to interact with wildlife and observe ecosystems. A core objective of the network is to develop citizen scientist opportunities, science curriculum, field biology courses, and educational materials for nature centers, refuge visitor centers, and zoos. In addition to expanding the project to answer large-scale ecological questions, we continue to expand methods to accommodate more research partners. For example, while many locations collect mark-recapture using a technique in which different colors of Visible Implant Elastomer (Northwest Marine Technology) are injected under the skin, others are collecting count data from coverboard arrays and/or natural cover transects.
In 2013, the Salamander Population and Adaptation Research Network started as a partnership between researchers at Penn State University and the USGS Northeast Amphibian and Research Monitoring Initiative with the intention of creating a research network to address climate adaptation and population dynamics across multiple scales. Our goals are to understand impacts of land use and climate change on salamander population dynamics and to develop a model to describe local and regional drivers of population dynamics by: 1)creating a versatile, statistically and methodologically efficient monitoring protocol, and 2)creating a network of linked observational and environmental manipulation studies.
Our focal species, the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus), is a widely distributed, common woodland species that uses habitat both on and beneath the soil surface. It is highly abundant in many forests and sensitive to environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, moisture), allowing us to make strong inferences about population dynamics and the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems. We use spatial capture-recapture analyses to estimate abundance, survival, recruitment, growth, and movement under a robust design sampling scheme.
We are currently working at ~30 locations within the range of Plethodon cinereus with collaborators at a variety of academic, governmental, and public education institutions. Each location has 3-6 arrays of 50 coverboards, which are sampling tools that facilitate capture on the soil surface by mimicking natural habitat such as fallen logs. The replicated plots are big enough to capture a population, but small enough to conduct paired experiments that enable the comparison of controls to experimental treatments. Experiments have included manipulating winter snow cover to assess possible effects of climate change on overwinter survival and changing coverboard spacing to determine if resulting inference on individual space use is affected. Using site predictors such as habitat and topography, land use history, environmental conditions, and invertebrate community, we also plan to assess effects on morphology, abundance, age class structure, demography, and occupancy dynamics.
During active seasons (fall and spring, in most areas), Plethodon cinereus are highly accessible to people of all ages and abilities in comparison to other wildlife, and occur in rural, suburban, and urban areas with forested habitat. Given these qualities, the species presents an opportunity for educators to provide learners with experiences that allow them to interact with wildlife and observe ecosystems. A core objective of the network is to develop citizen scientist opportunities, science curriculum, field biology courses, and educational materials for nature centers, refuge visitor centers, and zoos. In addition to expanding the project to answer large-scale ecological questions, we continue to expand methods to accommodate more research partners. For example, while many locations collect mark-recapture using a technique in which different colors of Visible Implant Elastomer (Northwest Marine Technology) are injected under the skin, others are collecting count data from coverboard arrays and/or natural cover transects.