Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Isolation of Giant Lampbrush Chromosomes from Living Oocytes of Frogs and Salamanders
Published on: December 5, 2016
Morphological Polymorphism Associated with Alternative Reproductive Tactics in a Plethodontid Salamander
Abstract:
Understanding polymorphism is a central problem in evolution and ecology, and alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) provide compelling examples for studying the origin and maintenance of behavioral and morphological variation. Much attention has been given to examples where "parasitic" individuals exploit the reproductive investment of "bourgeois" individuals, but some ARTs are instead maintained by environmental heterogeneity, with alternative tactics exhibiting differential fitness in discontinuous reproductive niches. We use genomic, behavioral, karyological, and field observational data to demonstrate one such example in plethodontid salamanders. These ARTs ("searching" and "guarding" males) are associated with different reproductive niches and, unlike most other examples in amphibians, demonstrate substantial morphological differences and inflexibility within a reproductive season. Evidence suggests the existence of these ARTs within three putative species in the two-lined salamander (Eurycea bislineata) species complex, with other members of this clade fixed for one of the two tactics. We highlight directions for future research in this system, including the relationship between these ARTs and parental care.
Related Concept Videos
Pharmaceutical Alternatives: Polymorphic Form-Related and Particle Size-Related Therapeutic Nonequivalence
Reproductive Cloning
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
In SCNT, an egg cell is taken from an animal and its nucleus is removed, creating an enucleated egg. Then a somatic...
Alternative RNA Splicing
There are five types of alternative RNA splicing that vary in the ways the pre-mRNA segments are removed or retained in the mature mRNA. The first...
Overview of the Reproductive System
The gonads, or primary reproductive organs, produce gametes and sex hormones. In males, the testes produce spermatozoa and testosterone, which is responsible for developing secondary male sex characteristics, including a deeper voice, larger muscles, facial and body...
Asexual Reproduction
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs

