Dissertation Research: Population Variation in Predation Effects on the Life History and Ecology of the Salamander Desmognathus quadramaculatus.

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

The PI's will study how predation by stream fish will affect survivorship antipredator behavior, and larval growth of salamander larvae. The will investigate how predation as a spatially explicity and variable selective agent may be differentiating sub-populations of the salamander Desmognathus quadramaculatus. This species co-exists with stream fish in southern Appalachian streams and this work will provide a unique test case to ask if predation influences life history traits in animals with complex life cycles.