Kira McEntire PhD 

Marbled Salamanders:

Although parental care is common among many plethodontid salamanders it is rare in the genus Ambystoma. Marbled Salamanders (Ambystoma opacum) is the only known species in the genus to display parental care. However, they have a high rate of nest abandonment (up to about 25%). I am starting a new project to attempt to quantify the amount of disturbance the attendants are willing to tolerate before abandoning their nests. Since we have had poor weather the past couple of years, there have been very few nests. So research is slow going on this project.

 

I am also attempting to get some population estimates with on-going monitoring using photo-ID and cover boards. 

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Gray Treefrogs:

My herpetology class (fall 2021) explored the impact of diet on size at metamorphosis for gray treefrogs. This project developed out of Chloe's summer project (see below) when her lily pad mesocosms became flooded with frog eggs! The general discussion around tadpoles is they are herbivorous, however some evidence suggests they are more omnivorous than people give them credit for. So we tested this idea by feeding them a variety of diets, some including added protein and some not. This paper is in prep! Way to go class!  

 

Secondly, gray treefrogs are known to be highly variable in color. I want to quantify this variation as metamorphs and look at how quickly they can change colors and if they are using environmental cues to do so. Preliminary studies were conducted on animals from the feeding trials, but additional studies continued this past summer and fall (2022). For the moment, other than age, any influence of environmental factors on color remain a mystery. Additional studies will begin this summer (2023).

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Red-backed salamander demography:

I am currently in the process of setting up a project to study the demography of the southern most populations of the northern red-backed salamander. These studies will become part of a network called SPARCnet. 

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Western Ribbon Snakes:

Color is a visual signal used by many animals for crypsis, warning of toxins, or courtship. Color variation within a species may allow a species to adapt to their local environment and can act as a driver of speciation. The four recognized subspecies of the western ribbon snake (Thamnophis proximus) in Texas are distinguished by their color patterns and geographic distribution. Reports of interbreeding between subspecies suggests no reproductive isolation based on color. To understand which mechanisms might be driving the geographic pattern of color morphs in Texas, we first need to have a solid understanding of the current geographic distribution of the various morphs and what color patterns exist. Using citizen science data from iNaturalist.com, we remapped the current range of color morphs, quantified their geographic overlap, and the color variation. Once we have a better understanding of the frequency of each color morph geographically, we can start to evaluate the evolutionary mechanisms. Based on the subspecies descriptions, their distribution has shifted and a novel color morph has been documented in the last 35 years (bright blue side stripes). Although iNaturalist records are biased with human density, they still provide insight to current distributions and photos provide a wide range of information. Our photo analysis suggests the subspecies descriptions are not sufficient to include the variability present in current populations. Additional studies are needed to evaluate the function of the red stripe, specifically, and the evolutionary mechanisms driving the persistence of variable color patterns.