Dissertation Research: A Phylogenetic Perspective on the Reaction Norms in the Salamander Family Plethodontidae

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9321323 Wake This is a proposal to study the role of the environment in generating differences among organisms, using the salamander family Plethodontidae as a model. The project will examine the reaction norm (range of differences) of number of trunk vertebrae with respect to developmental temperature in the salamander family Plethodontidae. Reaction norms will be determined by raising clutches in different temperature environments. These data will then be examined within the framework of a phylogenetic (genealogical) hypothesis for these salamanders. %%% This work will reveal 1) basic patterns of change in this anatomical system, particularly in the amount of plasticity as determined by environmental variance; 2) the causal basis of geographic variation in the salamander genus Batrachoseps; and 3) the relationship of plasticity to among-species variation in number of trunk vertebrae and other anatomical traits. This will shed much light on the phenomenon of anatomical plasticity in reaction norms in vertebrates.