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Subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum)

Movement behavior is an important aspect of animal ecology but is challenging to study in species that are unobservable for some portion of their lives, such as those inhabiting subterranean environments. Using four years of robust-design capture-recapture data, we examined the probability of moveme...

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Autores principales: Bendik, Nathan F., Chamberlain, Dee Ann, Devitt, Thomas J., Donelson, Sarah E., Nissen, Bradley, Owen, Jacob D., Robinson, Donelle, Sissel, Blake N., Sparks, Kenneth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8074841/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33981501
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11246
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author Bendik, Nathan F.
Chamberlain, Dee Ann
Devitt, Thomas J.
Donelson, Sarah E.
Nissen, Bradley
Owen, Jacob D.
Robinson, Donelle
Sissel, Blake N.
Sparks, Kenneth
author_facet Bendik, Nathan F.
Chamberlain, Dee Ann
Devitt, Thomas J.
Donelson, Sarah E.
Nissen, Bradley
Owen, Jacob D.
Robinson, Donelle
Sissel, Blake N.
Sparks, Kenneth
author_sort Bendik, Nathan F.
collection PubMed
description Movement behavior is an important aspect of animal ecology but is challenging to study in species that are unobservable for some portion of their lives, such as those inhabiting subterranean environments. Using four years of robust-design capture-recapture data, we examined the probability of movement into subterranean habitat by a population of endangered Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum), a species that inhabits both surface and subterranean groundwater habitats. We tested the effects of environmental variables and body size on survival and temporary emigration, using the latter as a measure of subterranean habitat use. Based on 2,046 observations of 1,578 individuals, we found that temporary emigration was higher for larger salamanders, 79% of which temporarily emigrated into subterranean habitat between primary sampling intervals, on average. Body size was a better predictor of temporary emigration and survival compared to environmental covariates, although coefficients from lower ranked models suggested turbidity and dissolved oxygen may influence salamander movement between the surface and subsurface. Surface population dynamics are partly driven by movement below ground and therefore surface abundance estimates represent a fraction of the superpopulation. As such, while surface habitat management remains an important conservation strategy for this species, periodic declines in apparent surface abundance do not necessarily indicate declines of the superpopulation associated with the spring habitat.
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spelling pubmed-80748412021-05-11 Subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum) Bendik, Nathan F. Chamberlain, Dee Ann Devitt, Thomas J. Donelson, Sarah E. Nissen, Bradley Owen, Jacob D. Robinson, Donelle Sissel, Blake N. Sparks, Kenneth PeerJ Conservation Biology Movement behavior is an important aspect of animal ecology but is challenging to study in species that are unobservable for some portion of their lives, such as those inhabiting subterranean environments. Using four years of robust-design capture-recapture data, we examined the probability of movement into subterranean habitat by a population of endangered Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum), a species that inhabits both surface and subterranean groundwater habitats. We tested the effects of environmental variables and body size on survival and temporary emigration, using the latter as a measure of subterranean habitat use. Based on 2,046 observations of 1,578 individuals, we found that temporary emigration was higher for larger salamanders, 79% of which temporarily emigrated into subterranean habitat between primary sampling intervals, on average. Body size was a better predictor of temporary emigration and survival compared to environmental covariates, although coefficients from lower ranked models suggested turbidity and dissolved oxygen may influence salamander movement between the surface and subsurface. Surface population dynamics are partly driven by movement below ground and therefore surface abundance estimates represent a fraction of the superpopulation. As such, while surface habitat management remains an important conservation strategy for this species, periodic declines in apparent surface abundance do not necessarily indicate declines of the superpopulation associated with the spring habitat. PeerJ Inc. 2021-04-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8074841/ /pubmed/33981501 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11246 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/This is an open access article, free of all copyright, made available under the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) . This work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.
spellingShingle Conservation Biology
Bendik, Nathan F.
Chamberlain, Dee Ann
Devitt, Thomas J.
Donelson, Sarah E.
Nissen, Bradley
Owen, Jacob D.
Robinson, Donelle
Sissel, Blake N.
Sparks, Kenneth
Subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum)
title Subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum)
title_full Subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum)
title_fullStr Subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum)
title_full_unstemmed Subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum)
title_short Subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in Barton Springs salamanders (Eurycea sosorum)
title_sort subterranean movement inferred by temporary emigration in barton springs salamanders (eurycea sosorum)
topic Conservation Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8074841/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33981501
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11246
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