A Comparison of the Gill-Arch System and Fins of Three Genera of Larval Salamanders, Rhyacotriton, Gyrinophilus, and Ambystoma

Valentine, Barry D.; Dennis, D.M.

doi:10.2307/1440850

Cited by 29 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The southern torrent salamander occurred primarily in undisturbed channel type I environments. It is one of the few North American amphibians with morphological adaptations specifically for headwater conditions (Valentine and Dennis 1964). Our niche model for torrent salamanders described a headwater environment with low fines, complex coarse substrates, cold water (<13.5°C) and high canopy (>91%).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial relationships in a dendritic network: the herpetofaunal metacommunity of the Mattole River catchment of northwest California

Welsh¹,

Hodgson²

2011

Ecography

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We investigated the aquatic and riparian herpetofauna in a 789 km2 river catchment in northwest California to examine competing theories of biotic community structuring in catchment stream networks. Research in fluvial geomorphology has resulted in multi‐scale models of dynamic processes that cyclically create, maintain, and destroy environments in stream networks of mountain catchments. These models have been applied to understanding distributions of invertebrates, algae, fishes and their habitats across entire basin networks, but similar approaches with herpetofauna are rare. We examined multi‐scale spatial patterns of multiple species as they related to variation in channel types, channel settings, and within‐channel attributes that result from these processes. From 83 reaches distributed randomly throughout the watershed, we distinguished four channel types: 1) high gradient with cascade structure; 2) 2–4% gradient with step‐pool structure controlled by moderately steep valleys; 3) slightly entrenched, lower gradient, plane‐bed structure; and 4) low gradient, shallow, unconfined, multiple or migrating pool/riffle channels in broad alluvial valleys. The composition of herpetofauna differed in five of six pair‐wise comparisons among these channel types, indicating a minimum of three distinct mesoscale assemblages. We used non‐parametric multiple regression (NPMR) to examine relationships at multiple spatial scales. NPMR revealed species‐specific associations with channel settings and within‐channel environments among species sharing the same sets of channel types. Morphological adaptations, biophysical limits and natural histories of each species best explained their associations with distinct sets of attributes surrounding and within channel types. While each set of species has similarly adapted to fluvial and geomorphic disturbance processes structuring channels at the mesoscale, species within each set have adapted to a unique set of attributes that are best discerned when their spatial relationships are examined across multiple spatial scales. We evaluated the various spatial patterns against hypotheses of stream community organization and metacommunity perspectives.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial relationships in a dendritic network: the herpetofaunal metacommunity of the Mattole River catchment of northwest California

Welsh¹,

Hodgson²

2011

Ecography

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“…The ‘populations’ found in these deposits differ in body outline and the size of larval gills, which are preserved as black shadows along the soft‐skin body silhouette (Werneburg ). In urodeles, long gills correlate with low levels of oxygen, such as occur in tropical or eutrophic lakes (pond type), contrasting short gills that are found in lower temperate or clearer water (stream type, see Valentine and Dennis ). Werneburg () distinguished similar gill morphs in different branchiosaurids from various lake deposits.…”

Section: Metamorphosing Life Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycles, plasticity and palaeoecology in temnospondyl amphibians

Schoch

2014

Palaeontology

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In the largest early tetrapod clade, the temnospondyls, ontogenies were diverse and quite distinct from the life cycles of extant amphibians. Three well‐studied clades exemplify the diversity of these long‐extinct ontogenies, here analysed with respect to their bearing on developmental plasticity, reaction norms and evolution. Sclerocephalus readily adjusted by means of developmental evolution to different lake environments. In addition, plasticity (reaction norm) played a significant role, apparent both morphologically and by altered developmental traits. Size increase and extension of the ontogenetic trajectory gave larger predators, a phenomenon also found in the dissorophoid Micromelerpeton. Whereas Sclerocephalus was throughout preying on the same fishes, Micromelerpeton was able to fit into different trophic levels. In the branchiosaurid Apateon, a biphasic life cycle was established, with metamorphosis producing a terrestrial morph in some species; truncation of the ontogenetic trajectory gave a sexually mature larva as an alternative morph (neoteny). Plasticity was high in the larval morphs, permitting neotenes to live as filter feeders or small carnivores. Fine‐tuning of development permitted Apateon populations to adjust to specific lake properties and readily change from a filter‐feeding to carnivorous mode of life. In the nonmetamorphosing Triassic Gerrothorax, morphology was extremely conserved, but histology reveals much plasticity at the microscopical level, correlating with fluctuating salinity and water energy. In responding to environmental fluctuations by enhanced plasticity, the studied temnospondyls managed to populate lakes inhabitable to other tetrapods and fishes.

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“…In pondtype salamander larvae, the dorsal caudal fin extends anteriorly to the trunk, whereas in streamtype larvae, the fin extends no farther than the hind limbs (Noble, 1931;Valentine and Dennis, 1964;Petranka, 1998). Studies of internal tail morphology in pond or stream-type larvae, and the corresponding effects of growth and metamorphosis are remarkably limited in number and taxonomic scope: Eurycea bislineata (stream-type; Wake and Lawson, 1973), Ambystoma opacum (pond-type; Worthington, 1971), and Hemidactylium scutatum (pondtype; Vaglia et al, 1997).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Caudal vertebral development and morphology in three salamanders with complex life cycles (Ambystoma jeffersonianum,Hemidactylium scutatum, andDesmognathus ocoee)

Babcock

Blais

2001

J. Morphol.

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A Comparison of the Gill-Arch System and Fins of Three Genera of Larval Salamanders, Rhyacotriton, Gyrinophilus, and Ambystoma

Cited by 29 publications

References 7 publications

Spatial relationships in a dendritic network: the herpetofaunal metacommunity of the Mattole River catchment of northwest California

Spatial relationships in a dendritic network: the herpetofaunal metacommunity of the Mattole River catchment of northwest California

Life cycles, plasticity and palaeoecology in temnospondyl amphibians

Caudal vertebral development and morphology in three salamanders with complex life cycles (Ambystoma jeffersonianum,Hemidactylium scutatum, andDesmognathus ocoee)

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