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Larval growth in polyphenic salamanders: making the best of a bad lot

  • Population ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Polyphenisms are excellent models for studying phenotypic variation, yet few studies have focused on natural populations. Facultative paedomorphosis is a polyphenism in which salamanders either metamorphose or retain their larval morphology and eventually become paedomorphic. Paedomorphosis can result from selection for capitalizing on favorable aquatic habitats (paedomorph advantage), but could also be a default strategy under poor aquatic conditions (best of a bad lot). We tested these alternatives by quantifying how the developmental environment influences the ontogeny of wild Arizona tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum). Most paedomorphs in our study population arose from slow-growing larvae that developed under high density and size-structured conditions (best of a bad lot), although a few faster-growing larvae also became paedomorphic (paedomorph advantage). Males were more likely to become paedomorphs than females and did so under a greater range of body sizes than females, signifying a critical role for gender in this polyphenism. Our results emphasize that the same phenotype can be adaptive under different environmental and genetic contexts and that studies of phenotypic variation should consider multiple mechanisms of morph production.

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Acknowledgments

This long-term research could not have been completed without the support and assistance of numerous colleagues, research assistants, funding agencies, and friends. We particularly thank R.D. Howard for his unending and much needed advice, wisdom, revisions, and patience during the initial phases of this project. W. Brown, A. Benson, J. Boynton, E. Olson, J. Doyle, J. Earl, A. Bohonak, S. Horn, G. McCrabb, R. Moorman, J. Marcus, J. McGrady-Steed, K. Buhn, D. Weigel, G. Maruca, M. Hatfield, C. Eden, H. Grieg, R. Schultheis, S. Mattie, D. Dale, M. Mumford, C. Aubee, E. Bruneau, M. Galatowitsch, M. O’Brien, and S. Thomason provided field and intellectual assistance. P. Waser, J. Lucas, N. Buschhaus, J. Young, M. Brown, A. Bohonak, J. Haydock, J. Doyle, K. Landholt, and J. Earl reviewed previous versions of the manuscript. J. Hetfield, L. Ulrich, K. Hammett, R. Trujillo, J. Newstead, and C. Burton provided intense encouragement. I. Billick, B. Barr, S. Donovan, S. Lohr, T. Allison and L. Swift have provided much needed aid and assistance at the RMBL, and W. Gibbons, R. Semlitsch, D. White, G. Kipphut, and R. Fister patiently supported this work. M. Denoël was a Research Associate at the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS) during this research. This research was funded by a Purdue David Ross Summer Fellowship, a Purdue Research Foundation Fellowship, the American Museum of Natural History (Theodore Roosevelt Fund), Sigma Xi (Grant in Aid), the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (Lee R. G. Snyder Memorial Fund), the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (Helen Gaige Fund), the Animal Behavior Society (ABS Research Grant), the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the American Philosophical Society, the Murray State University Center for Institutional Studies and Research (CISR), a CISR Presidential Research Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship (MD), the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS grants 1.5.011.03, 1.5.120.04, F.4718.06, 1.5.199.07, 1.5.013.08, and 1.5.010.09) and the National Science Foundation (DEB 9122981 and DEB 0109436 to HW; BSR 8958253, DEB 9407856, and DEB 010893 to SAW; EPI 0132295 to G. Kipphut; and UBM 0531865 to R. Fister).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Watershed Studies Institute, Murray State University, Murray, KY, 42071, USA

    H. H. Whiteman & N. M. Gerlanc

  2. Biology and Environmental Science Departments, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, 16335, USA

    S. A. Wissinger

  3. Laboratory of Fish and Amphibian Ethology, Behavioural Biology Unit, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Liège, 4020, Liège, Belgium

    M. Denoël

  4. Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Watershed Studies Institute, Murray State University, Murray, KY, 42071, USA

    C. J. Mecklin

  5. Department of Environmental Studies, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR, 97520, USA

    J. J. Gutrich

  6. Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, P. O. Box 519, Crested Butte, CO, 81224, USA

    H. H. Whiteman, S. A. Wissinger, M. Denoël, N. M. Gerlanc & J. J. Gutrich

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  1. H. H. Whiteman
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  2. S. A. Wissinger
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  3. M. Denoël
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  4. C. J. Mecklin
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  5. N. M. Gerlanc
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  6. J. J. Gutrich
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Correspondence to H. H. Whiteman.

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Communicated by Ross Alford.

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Whiteman, H.H., Wissinger, S.A., Denoël, M. et al. Larval growth in polyphenic salamanders: making the best of a bad lot. Oecologia 168, 109–118 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2076-z

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