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Rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years.

Maggie M Hantak¹, Nicholas A Federico², David C Blackburn²

¹Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. maggiehantak@gmail.com.

Scientific Reports

|November 23, 2021

Summary

Eastern Red-backed Salamanders show shifts in color morph frequency and body size due to climate change over 43 years. These findings reveal complex responses to environmental drivers in this color polymorphic species.

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Area of Science:

Ecology and evolutionary biology
Zoology
Climate change biology

Background:

Color polymorphic animals provide insights into intraspecific phenotypic plasticity and adaptation.
Understanding how climate warming affects distinct color morphs is crucial for predicting long-term polymorphism maintenance.
The Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) exhibits a well-defined striped/unstriped color polymorphism.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate temporal shifts in color morph frequency and body size in response to climate over 43 years.
To analyze the impact of climate, elevation, and time on Plethodon cinereus morph dynamics.
To explore co-adapted morphological changes in different color morphs driven by climate and geographic factors.

Main Methods:

Utilized a 43-year historical dataset of Eastern Red-backed Salamanders.
Developed a pipeline for high-throughput trait data extraction from museum specimens, including batch photography and community scientist scoring of color morphs.
Applied a linear modeling framework incorporating spatial population structure to analyze trait variations.

Main Results:

Color morph frequency and body size were found to vary significantly with climate, elevation, and time.
A trend of increased frequency and decreased body size was observed for the striped morph.
The unstriped morph showed an increase in body size, suggesting differential responses between morphs.

Conclusions:

Plethodon cinereus color morphs exhibit varied responses to climate and geographic drivers, indicating potential co-adapted morphological changes.
Museum specimens can be effectively used to extract trait data for studying species' phenotypic responses to climate change.
The study highlights the complex interplay between climate, geography, and intraspecific variation in shaping species' adaptations.