New research from the University of Montana suggests that streamflow variability brought on by climate change will negatively affect the survival of salamanders.
UM biology Professor Winsor Lowe and his partners studied spring salamanders living in five New Hampshire streams. Like many streams around the globe, these waterways are experiencing greater fluctuations between low and high flows brought about by climate change.
The researchers revealed that streamflow variability can kill salamanders while they are metamorphosing from larvae to adults. The work was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in an article titled “Hydrologic variability contributes to reduced survival through metamorphosis in a stream salamander.”
“We feel this work is important because it expands our knowledge about the effects of climate change on a diverse group of species that are often overlooked because they spend most of their lives under rocks and logs in small, headwater streams,” Lowe said. “Increasing environmental variability may be especially challenging for species that undergo metamorphosis – like many insects and amphibians – because that’s a vulnerable period when they rely on stable environments for survival.”
Read more at University of Montana
Photo: New UM research suggests spring salamanders are less likely to survive metamorphosis to adults in streams with highly variable flows. Photo by Ryan Wagner.