Harnessing crowdsourced images to investigate the relationship between color polymorphism and climate in woodland salamanders

Authors

Presenter(s)

Brendan Enochs

Comments

11:00-12:30, Kennedy Union 222

Files

Description

Color polymorphic species, where multiple color phenotypes (i.e., morphs) coexist within the same population, are extremely common in nature. In the salamander genus Plethodon, at least ten species exhibit a striped/unstriped color polymorphism, while closely related species are fixed for either morph. In a single species, the Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus), previous work has indicated that morphs diverge in climatic niche use. However, the magnitude and direction of color morph-climate associations has varied across studies. Further, little research has examined the relationship between climate and color morph in the nine other color polymorphic Plethodon. Here, I scored color phenotypes from >65,000 web-based georeferenced community science images of color polymorphic Plethodon. With this extensive color morph dataset, I quantified the climatic niche of each species and their color morphs when applicable and utilized a comparative approach to examine patterns of climatic niche overlap, niche breadth, and potential responses to future climate change.

Publication Date

4-23-2025

Project Designation

Graduate Research

Primary Advisor

Maggie M. Hantak

Primary Advisor's Department

Biology

Keywords

Stander Symposium, College of Arts and Sciences

Institutional Learning Goals

Scholarship

Recommended Citation

"Harnessing crowdsourced images to investigate the relationship between color polymorphism and climate in woodland salamanders" (2025). Stander Symposium Projects. 4135.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/4135