| Effects of warming conditions in eastern North American forests on red-backed salamander morphology. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 16909583 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Several studies have reported climate-associated changes in phenotypically plastic traits of amphibians, yet it remains unknown whether amphibians can manifest an evolutionary response to global climate change at the rate and magnitude that it is occurring. To assess this issue, we examined temporal change in the morphology of the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus), a small, abundant woodland salamander distributed widely in eastern North America with two distinct morphotypes: striped individuals associated with cooler microclimates and unstriped individuals associated with warmer microclimates. We compiled morph frequencies for 50,960 individual salamanders from 558 sites as recorded in the published literature and in unpublished field notes of herpetologists between 1908 and 2004. We observed that striping probability increased with increasing latitude, longitude, and elevation and decreased (from 80% to 74% range wide) with time. The combined forces of regional climate warming and, particularly, forest disturbance have evidently been sufficient to cause morphological evolution in this amphibian over the last century. |
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Authors:
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James P Gibbs; Nancy E Karraker |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology Volume: 20 ISSN: 0888-8892 ISO Abbreviation: Conserv. Biol. Publication Date: 2006 Jun |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2006-08-16 Completed Date: 2006-09-26 Revised Date: 2006-11-07 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 9882301 Medline TA: Conserv Biol Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 913-7 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, 250 Illick Hall, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, New York 13210, USA. jpgibbs@esf.edu |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Animals Ecosystem* Greenhouse Effect* North America Salamandridae / anatomy & histology* Trees* |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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