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The effects of urbanization on body size of larval stream salamanders

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Abstract

Animal body sizes in urban areas often differ from nearby rural areas, which may impact population fitness and dynamics. We examined the effects of urbanization on larval body sizes of two species of salamanders, the two-lined salamander (Eurycea cirrigera) and the northern dusky salamander (Desmognathus fuscus). Specifically, we utilized a before-after control-impact (BACI) study design which allowed for the assessment of differences in larval body size between multiple control and impacted sites over a 5 year period. We found a decrease in larval body size in both species at the impacted sites compared to control sites in the first year after urbanization, followed by generally larger body sizes in urban sites compared to control sites in years 3–5, and significantly so in year 4. Using generalized linear models, we found support that larger body sizes post impact in urbanized streams may be due to warmer stream water temperature and decreased abundance of larvae. Both E. cirrigera and D. fuscus are well known for their ability to persist in urbanized streams; our data suggest that despite overall lower abundances in urban streams, persistence may be due to increases in larval body size and, potentially, post-metamorphic benefits.

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Acknowledgments

We thank members of the Davidson College Herpetology Lab for helping with data collection for this study. W. R. Costenbader, K. Coffey, S. Davies, R. Harper, L. Hobbs and D. Testerman provided assistance locating study sites. F. Bragg, J. Bragg, B. Eakes, K. Killian, D. Seriff, M. Strawn, T. Waters, and A. White permitted us to sample salamanders on their properties. Members of the Urban Ecology course at University of Kentucky provided comments that improved the manuscript. This material is based on work supported by the Department of Energy under award DE-FC-09-075R22506. Funding was provided by the Department of Biology at Davidson College, the Davidson Research Initiative funded by the Duke Endowment, the Department of Biology at Wake Forest University, National Science Foundation grant (DEB-0347326) to M.E.D., and Duke Energy.

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Correspondence to Steven J. Price.

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Murphy, M.O., Agha, M., Maigret, T.A. et al. The effects of urbanization on body size of larval stream salamanders. Urban Ecosyst 19, 275–286 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0486-0

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