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Long-Term Growth And Monitoring Of The Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus A. Alleganiensis) In Eastern West Virginia, Douglas Charles Horchler

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Amphibian declines have been well documented, specifically in the last few decades. The Hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, one of North America’s largest salamander species, has suffered dramatic declines throughout much of its range, with estimated declines of up to 77 percent recently documented in some populations. With diurnal and nocturnal searches and mark-recapture techniques, I collected data on the status of Eastern Hellbender populations in Eastern West Virginia. We re-sampled a study site on the West Fork of the Greenbrier River that was first examined in 1998 by Jeff Humphries. Long-term growth and survivorship data were collected and compared to 1998 …