Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Phenological Shifts In Amphibian Breeding Influences Offspring Size And Response To A Common Wetland Contaminant, Nicholas Buss, Lindsey Swierk, Jessica Hua

Biological Sciences Student Scholarship

Increases in temperature variability associated with climate change has critical implications for the phenology of wildlife across the globe. Indeed, there have been many examples of warmer winter temperatures (i.e. “false springs”) inducing forward shifts in breeding phenology. Earlier breeding can put wildlife at risk of freeze events during reproduction or vulnerable early life stages. Furthermore, in addition to temperature shifts, wildlife populations commonly encounter a wide diversity of other stressors (e.g. pollutants). As global change is predicted to increase both temperature variability and instances of pollutant contamination, understanding interactions between these stressors will become increasingly important. Using 14 populations …