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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Defining The Current Distribution Of The Imperiled Black-Spotted Newt Across South Texas, Usa, Padraic S. Robinson, Drew R. Davis, Sean M. Collins, Richard J. Kline
Defining The Current Distribution Of The Imperiled Black-Spotted Newt Across South Texas, Usa, Padraic S. Robinson, Drew R. Davis, Sean M. Collins, Richard J. Kline
School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations
The Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis) is a chronically understudied salamander species, with many aspects of its natural history, ecology, and distribution poorly known. Previous studies using traditional methodologies have had limited success documenting N. meridionalis on the landscape, detecting individuals at 6% (7 of 114) and 1% (2 of 221) of sites surveyed. A novel environmental DNA (eDNA) assay was designed and implemented with the goals of assessing the current distribution of N. meridionalis across south Texas, USA, and better understanding the conditions for positive eDNA detections. We conducted eDNA sampling and traditional surveys at 80 sites throughout …