Ecological and Quantitative Genetics of Growth and Growth Plasticity

阿诺德9407844这个项目探索了沿着阿巴拉契亚山脉南部一个海拔斜坡的不同种群的深色山地火蜥蜴的变异性质。已研究的两个种群在许多生活史特征上表现出显著的差异，如身体大小、卵大小和窝卵大小。这种模式在各种各样的动物中非常常见，但令人惊讶的是，生态学家对这种临床变异的潜在原因知之甚少。以前的研究表明，这些火蜥蜴的早期生活阶段似乎对当地栖息地的变化最敏感。例如，高海拔地区的严冬被认为比低海拔地区对幼虫生长速度的影响要严重得多。这项研究的目标是严格研究栖息地的这些差异可能对已观察到的整体格局做出贡献的可能方式。与此同时，将有可能批判性地探索火蜥蜴在不同生境之间移动的各种方式，之后将监测它们在每个生境中的生长情况。一般来说，研究临床变异的生物学家会对这项工作感兴趣。这项研究的一个潜在应用是了解像这些火蜥蜴这样的生物将如何应对全球变暖。也就是说，通过研究火蜥蜴对临床温度和栖息地差异的反应方式，将有可能深入了解更普遍的问题，即更温暖和更干燥的气候将如何影响许多物种的生存和分布。反过来，这些信息又与管理阿巴拉契亚山脉南部丰富多样的生物多样性的努力高度相关，那里的大部分地区都位于国家公园和国家森林。

Arnold 9407844 This project explores the nature of variation among different populations of the mountain dusky salamander along an elevational cline in the southern Appalachian mountains. Two populations that have been studied show pronounced differences in many life history characters such as body size, egg size, and clutch size. Such patterns are extremely common in a wide diversity of animals, but ecologists know surprisingly little about the underlying reasons for this clinical variation. Previous work suggests that the early life stages of these salamanders seem to be the most sensitive to variation in local habitats. For example, the harsh winters of high elevation sites are thought to exact a far more severe toll on larval growth rates than low elevations sites. The goal of this study is to rigorously study the possible ways in which these differences in the habitat may contribute to the overall patterns that have been observed. Concomitantly, it will be possible to critically explore various ways in which the salamanders are moved between habitats, after which their growth will be monitored in each habitat. In general this work will be of interest to biologists who will study clinical variation. One potential applied use of this research is to understand how organisms such as these salamanders will respond to global warming. This is, by studying the ways in which salamanders have already responded to clinically varying temperature and habitat differences, it will be possible to gain insights into the more general issue of how warmer and drier climates will influence the survival and distribution of many species. This information, in turn, is highly relevant to attempts to manage biological diversity in the richly diverse southern Appalachians, much of which is held in the National Parks and National Forests.