Evolutionary and ecological consequences of roads and runoff [electronic resource].

9781303710506

1 online resource (202 p.)

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The unknown becomes simply the undiscovered. Jim Donini (2012) Here, I report the consequences of road adjacency and runoff on populations of pool breeding amphibians. My data indicate that local populations---separated by just hundreds of meters---describe profound variation in response to the negative consequences of roadside habitats, and that responses can be directionally opposed between species. Specifically, I found that for a species of salamander, roadside dwelling populations have become adapted to roadside pools. Yet in the very same pools, populations of a cohabiting frog have become maladapted to road effects. Coupled with reduced rates of survival inherent to roadside populations, adult females increase reproductive output, suggesting a mechanism that mitigates the demographic consequences of roadside maladaptive performance. Similarly, evidence for genetic inheritance indicates population differentiation and suggests that roadside populations may be adapted at later life history stages despite maladaptive outcomes at early life history stages. Together, these results highlight the complexity of local population responses, and suggest that species level inference offers limited insight in the context of contemporary environmental change. Instead, population specific approaches addressing the influence of evolution offer a promising advancement toward developing our understanding of the dynamic outcomes between species and within populations.

Books / Online / Dissertations & Theses

English

July 25, 2014

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Yale University, 2013.

Yale University.