Honors Theses

Diverse bacteria from the skin of the Eastern Red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

Advisor

Yvonne Sun, Ph.D and Maggie Hantak, Ph.D.

Department

Biology

Publication Date

4-23-2025

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Amphibians are facing a significant biodiversity crisis. In the last few decades, these animals have been decimated by two fungal pathogens, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal). Curiously, the most common amphibian species in the northeastern United States, the Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus), appears to be largely resistant to Bd infections and also does not appear to be greatly affected by Bsal. The factors that contribute to this resistance are not fully understood. In this study, we isolated bacteria from P. cinereus skin swab samples from a total of three locations (Caesar Creek, Hills and Dales, and Taylorsville) surrounding Dayton, Ohio to investigate antimicrobial function of salamander skin bacteria. In total, we obtained a total of 104 bacterial isolates from the skin of 27 salamanders. We found that 33 of the isolates showed antifungal activity, suggesting a potential role in protecting these salamanders from the detrimental effects of Bd and Bsal. Overall, this study aids in our current understanding of the role of skin microbes in the protection against pathogens in P. cinereus and highlights how microbial communities may contribute to disease resistance across amphibian populations.

Permission Statement

This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.

Keywords

Undergraduate research

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