Dissertation
UNDERSTANDING AMPHIBIAN DISTRIBUTIONS, POPULATION DYNAMICS, AND POPULATION CONNECTIVITY BY USING ECOLOGICAL MODELLING AND GENETICS
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/108154
Abstract
One principle question in ecology is how temporal and spatial environmental heterogeneity influences species’ ranges and connectivity of populations within the range. I aimed to integrate across disciplines to build a greater understanding of the impact of environmental heterogeneity on a variety of North American cold-adapted amphibian species. First, we found the last Northern Leopard Frog population in Washington is structured as three subpopulations, even at very small spatial scale (<4 km2), with grouping occurring along previously determined hydrological units. We informed conservation efforts using the subpopulations and migration rates by creating a meta-population viability analysis. Second, we evaluated landscape influences on population connectivity of the Columbia Spotted Frog under multiple sampling scenarios, and found forest reduced gene flow compared to other landscape types. Third, we conducted a systematic literature review and found that dispersal is rarely incorporated in species’ range research. We also conceptualized the consequences of not including dispersal. Fourth, using species distribution modeling, we found that human impact is one of the driving factors, along with climate, for delineating the range of six species. This highlights the need for researchers to move beyond climate-only estimates. We found that under more severe climate change, ranges will likely contract, and population extinction will occur at the southern edge. Under less sever climate change models, some species ranges were predicted to increase due to northward expansion occurring faster than rates of southern habitat loss. These findings highlight the importance of models that incorporate more realistic biological information add important resolution to range predictions. Throughout this work, we have integrated landscape ecology, computational modelling, and genetics to address questions of connectivity and range dynamics. We hope that these results are instrumental in the guidance of conservation decisions for cold-adapted amphibians, while also advancing methodologies for use in a wide-array of systems.
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Details
- Title
- UNDERSTANDING AMPHIBIAN DISTRIBUTIONS, POPULATION DYNAMICS, AND POPULATION CONNECTIVITY BY USING ECOLOGICAL MODELLING AND GENETICS
- Creators
- Travis Seaborn
- Contributors
- Erica J Crespi (Advisor)Caren S Goldberg (Committee Member)Jeremiah W Busch (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- School of Biological Sciences
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 225
- Identifiers
- 99900581814601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation