By Ellie Shanahan

Faculty Mentor: Bradley Lamphere

Abstract

Studying how different organisms niche partition within an ecosystem remains an important aspect for the field of ecology. Studying how different species of amphibian ecologically interact remains important due to their importance as bioindicators.. We wanted to determine the presence of significant niche partitioning between different species of amphibian foraging in terrestrial environments. Comparisons were made between Eurycea cirrigera and Plethodon cinereus. We investigated similar differences between unstriped and striped morphs of P. cinereus to determine the possibility of these being distinct ecotypes. We hypothesized that E. cirrigera may be displaced from areas with greater temperature and less humidity present due to requiring aquatic environments for reproduction. We also hypothesized that unstriped P. cinereus may be displaced within habitat with greater temperature and lower humidity present due to lower basal metabolic rates. Habitat characteristics were quantified using atmospheric temperature, atmospheric humidity, soil moisture, soil temperature, soil pH, distance to stream, etc. We were able to make some preliminary observations on mean values despite statistical analysis not being performed. For example, we found that mean values indicated E. cirrigera may have been more common within colder and wetter environments when compared to P. cinereus. Mean values may indicate unstriped P. cinereus was more commonly found in areas with greater humidity present and decreased temperatures. We plan to do more rigorous statistical analysis to determine whether this data is significant once more data is collected from our study sites. This data may provide evidence for unstriped and striped morphs of P. cinereus being different ecotypes along with evidence supporting niche partitioning between different species of amphibian.