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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Assessing The Use Of Non-Lethal Tail Clips For Measuring Stable Isotopes Of Plethodontid Salamanders, Joseph Milanovich, John Maerz Dec 2015

Assessing The Use Of Non-Lethal Tail Clips For Measuring Stable Isotopes Of Plethodontid Salamanders, Joseph Milanovich, John Maerz

Joseph Milanovich

Stable isotopes are increasingly used in ecology to study the diets, trophic position, and migratory patterns of wildlife including herpetofauna. When using stable isotopes, it is important to consider which tissues can or should be sampled, and how selecting tissues may affect the inferences drawn from stable isotope data. Amphibians offer fewer tissues than other larger organisms that can be harvested in sufficient quantity without killing the animal; however, many salamanders have tails that readily autotomize and regenerate. We used three species of plethodontid salamander (Plethodon cinereus, P. metcalfi, and Desmognathus quadramaculatus) to determine whether distal tail tissue had carbon …


Lead-Phase And Red-Stripe Color Morphs Of Red-Backed Salamanders (Plethodon Cinereus) Differ In Hematological Stress Indices: A Consequence Of Differential Predation Pressure?, Andrew Davis, Joseph Milanovich Dec 2015

Lead-Phase And Red-Stripe Color Morphs Of Red-Backed Salamanders (Plethodon Cinereus) Differ In Hematological Stress Indices: A Consequence Of Differential Predation Pressure?, Andrew Davis, Joseph Milanovich

Joseph Milanovich

Throughout the animal kingdom there are species that have two or more phenotypic forms or ‘morphs’, and many of these are amphibians. In North America, the red-backed salamander Plethodon cinereus can have either a red dorsal stripe or no dorsal stripe (lead-phase form), and evidence to date indicates the lead-phase form incurs a greater number of attacks from predators. In a recent collection of 51 P. cinereus, blood smears of both color morphs (35 red-stripe, 16 lead-phase) were examined to obtain numbers of circulating leukocytes (via light microscopy), which can be used to indirectly estimate levels of stress hormones in …


Projected Loss Of A Salamander Diversity Hotspot As A Consequence Of Projected Global Climate Change, Joseph Milanovich, William Peterman, Nathan Nibbelink, John Maerz Dec 2015

Projected Loss Of A Salamander Diversity Hotspot As A Consequence Of Projected Global Climate Change, Joseph Milanovich, William Peterman, Nathan Nibbelink, John Maerz

Joseph Milanovich

Significant shifts in climate are considered a threat to plants and animals with significant physiological limitations and limited dispersal abilities. The southern Appalachian Mountains are a global hotspot for plethodontid salamander diversity. Plethodontids are lungless ectotherms, so their ecology is strongly governed by temperature and precipitation. Many plethodontid species in southern Appalachia exist in high elevation habitats that may be at or near their thermal maxima, and may also have limited dispersal abilities across warmer valley bottoms.


Invasion By Exotic Earthworms Alters Litter- And Soil-Dwelling Oribatid Mites, Jordan Burke, John Maerz, Joseph Milanovich, Melanie Fisk, Kamal Gandhi Dec 2015

Invasion By Exotic Earthworms Alters Litter- And Soil-Dwelling Oribatid Mites, Jordan Burke, John Maerz, Joseph Milanovich, Melanie Fisk, Kamal Gandhi

Joseph Milanovich

Exotic earthworms are drivers of biotic communities in invaded North American forest stands. Here we used ecologically important oribatid mite (Arachnida: Acari) communities, as model organisms to study the responses of litter- and soil-dwelling microarthropod communities to exotic earthworm invasion in a northern temperate forest. Litter- and soil-dwelling mites were sampled in 2008–2009 from forest areas: (1) with no earthworms; (2) those with epigeic and endogeic species, including Lumbricus rubellus Hoffmeister; and (3) those with epigeic, endogeic, and anecic earthworms including L. terrestris L. Species richness and diversity of litter- and soil-dwelling (0–2 cm soil depth) oribatid mites was 1–2 …


Influence Of Catchment Land Cover On Stoichiometry And Stable Isotope Compositions Of Basal Resources And Macroinvertebrate Consumers In Headwater Streams, Joseph Milanovich, Adam Berland, Matthew Hopton Dec 2015

Influence Of Catchment Land Cover On Stoichiometry And Stable Isotope Compositions Of Basal Resources And Macroinvertebrate Consumers In Headwater Streams, Joseph Milanovich, Adam Berland, Matthew Hopton

Joseph Milanovich

Anthropogenic land use affects aquatic landscapes. For example, landscape-level conversion to urban or agricultural land can heavily influence nutrient cycles in headwater streams via increased nutrient loading and altered hydrologic patterns. Recent studies in headwater streams have found that the stoichiometry and stable isotope compositions of basal resources and consumers can vary as a result of landscape-level change. To this end, we examined the stoichiometry and stable isotope compositions (δ13C and δ15N) of headwater stream flora and fauna in 16 streams located within forested, agricultural, urban, and mixed (urban, forested, and agricultural) catchments. Our results suggest …


Do Species Distribution Models Predict Species Richness In Urban And Natural Green Space? A Case Study Using Amphibians, Joseph Milanovich, William Peterman, Kyle Barrett, Matthew Hopton Dec 2015

Do Species Distribution Models Predict Species Richness In Urban And Natural Green Space? A Case Study Using Amphibians, Joseph Milanovich, William Peterman, Kyle Barrett, Matthew Hopton

Joseph Milanovich

No abstract provided.


Diet Of Western Slimy Salamander, Plethodon Albagula (Caudata: Plethodontidae), From Two Mountain Ranges In Arkansas, Joseph Milanovich, Stanley Trauth, Tanja Mckay Dec 2015

Diet Of Western Slimy Salamander, Plethodon Albagula (Caudata: Plethodontidae), From Two Mountain Ranges In Arkansas, Joseph Milanovich, Stanley Trauth, Tanja Mckay

Joseph Milanovich

We identified stomach contents of 80 Plethodon albagula (Western Slimy Salamander) from two mountain ranges in Arkansas (Ozark and Ouachita) to examine if regional differences in diet occur. Museum specimens from 1985 to 2005 were used from locations throughout each mountain range. Although a wide variety of prey were found in stomachs, Hymenoptera: Formicidae and Coleoptera: Carabidae were found to be the most important food items in the diet of P. albagula. Ants and beetles constituted 85% abundance of their total diet (79.6% Ozark and 90.1% Ouachita) and 52.2% of their total biomass (42.6% Ozark and 64.1% Ouachita). Seventy-eight and …


Urspelerpes Brucei, Carlos Campbell, Trip Lamb, Joseph Milanovich Dec 2015

Urspelerpes Brucei, Carlos Campbell, Trip Lamb, Joseph Milanovich

Joseph Milanovich

No abstract provided.


Realistic Fasting Does Not Affect Stable Isotope Levels Of A Metabolically Efficient Salamander, Joseph Milanovich Dec 2012

Realistic Fasting Does Not Affect Stable Isotope Levels Of A Metabolically Efficient Salamander, Joseph Milanovich

Joseph Milanovich

No abstract provided.


Plethodon Albagula (Western Slimy Salamander), Brooding Defense Behavior And Oophagy, Joseph Milanovich Dec 2006

Plethodon Albagula (Western Slimy Salamander), Brooding Defense Behavior And Oophagy, Joseph Milanovich

Joseph Milanovich

No abstract provided.


Fecundity, Reproductive Ecology, And Influence Of Precipitation On Clutch Size In The Western Slimy Salamander (Plethodon Albagula), Joseph Milanovich Dec 2005

Fecundity, Reproductive Ecology, And Influence Of Precipitation On Clutch Size In The Western Slimy Salamander (Plethodon Albagula), Joseph Milanovich

Joseph Milanovich

We investigated the reproductive ecology of the western slimy salamander (Plethodon albagula) in an abandoned mine shaft in the Ouachita National Forest of south-central Arkansas. The mine habitat provided an opportunity to observe nesting behavior, quantify reproductive output, and evaluate the influence of precipitation on fecundity for a population of P. albagula that utilize this particular mine shaft to brood and defend egg clutches. We collected reproductive data on 372 clutches between 1982 and 2004. There was no relationship between the number of eggs per egg clutch versus egg size; snout–vent length, body mass, and tail length were not correlated …


Plethodon Albagula (Western Slimy Salamander), Vocalization, Joseph Milanovich Dec 2004

Plethodon Albagula (Western Slimy Salamander), Vocalization, Joseph Milanovich

Joseph Milanovich

No abstract provided.


Diadophis Punctatus Sticktogenys (Mississippi Ringneck Snake), Diet, Joseph Milanovich Dec 2004

Diadophis Punctatus Sticktogenys (Mississippi Ringneck Snake), Diet, Joseph Milanovich

Joseph Milanovich

No abstract provided.


Sonora Semiannulata (Ground Snake), Geographic Distribution And Range Extension, Joseph Milanovich Dec 2004

Sonora Semiannulata (Ground Snake), Geographic Distribution And Range Extension, Joseph Milanovich

Joseph Milanovich

No abstract provided.