Authors
James P Gibbs, Nancy E Karraker
Publication date
2006/6
Journal
Conservation Biology
Volume
20
Issue
3
Pages
913-917
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Inc
Description
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morph frequencies for 50,960 individual salamanders from 558 sites as recorded in the published literature and in unpublished field notes of herpetologists between 1908 and 2004.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 …
Total citations
Scholar articles
JP Gibbs, NE Karraker - Conservation Biology, 2006