Rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years

Abstract Color polymorphic animals offer a unique system for studying intraspecific phenotypic responses to climate change. Discrete color morphs are easy to identify, and correlated trait responses of morphs can indicate how climate warming may facilitate long-term maintenance of polymorphisms. We...

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Autores principales: Maggie M. Hantak, Nicholas A. Federico, David C. Blackburn, Robert P. Guralnick
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/f0017008b52246e086066535dd7d3fda
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:f0017008b52246e086066535dd7d3fda2021-11-28T12:16:15ZRapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years10.1038/s41598-021-02124-22045-2322https://doaj.org/article/f0017008b52246e086066535dd7d3fda2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02124-2https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Color polymorphic animals offer a unique system for studying intraspecific phenotypic responses to climate change. Discrete color morphs are easy to identify, and correlated trait responses of morphs can indicate how climate warming may facilitate long-term maintenance of polymorphisms. We use a historical dataset spanning 43 years to examine temporal shifts in color morph frequency and body size in response to climate in the Eastern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus, which contains a widespread striped/unstriped color polymorphism. We created a pipeline to extract high-throughput trait data from fluid-preserved museum specimens where we batch-photographed salamanders, de-aggregated individual specimens from photographs, and solicited help of community scientists to score color morphs. We used a linear modeling framework that includes information about spatial population structure to demonstrate that color morph frequency and body size vary in response to climate, elevation, and over time, with an overall trend of higher frequency and decreased body size of the striped morph, but increased size of the unstriped morph. These surprising results suggest that morphs may be responding to multiple climate and geographic drivers through co-adapted morphological changes. This work highlights new practices of extracting trait data from museum specimens to demonstrate species phenotypes response to climate change.Maggie M. HantakNicholas A. FedericoDavid C. BlackburnRobert P. GuralnickNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Maggie M. Hantak
Nicholas A. Federico
David C. Blackburn
Robert P. Guralnick
Rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years
description Abstract Color polymorphic animals offer a unique system for studying intraspecific phenotypic responses to climate change. Discrete color morphs are easy to identify, and correlated trait responses of morphs can indicate how climate warming may facilitate long-term maintenance of polymorphisms. We use a historical dataset spanning 43 years to examine temporal shifts in color morph frequency and body size in response to climate in the Eastern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus, which contains a widespread striped/unstriped color polymorphism. We created a pipeline to extract high-throughput trait data from fluid-preserved museum specimens where we batch-photographed salamanders, de-aggregated individual specimens from photographs, and solicited help of community scientists to score color morphs. We used a linear modeling framework that includes information about spatial population structure to demonstrate that color morph frequency and body size vary in response to climate, elevation, and over time, with an overall trend of higher frequency and decreased body size of the striped morph, but increased size of the unstriped morph. These surprising results suggest that morphs may be responding to multiple climate and geographic drivers through co-adapted morphological changes. This work highlights new practices of extracting trait data from museum specimens to demonstrate species phenotypes response to climate change.
format article
author Maggie M. Hantak
Nicholas A. Federico
David C. Blackburn
Robert P. Guralnick
author_facet Maggie M. Hantak
Nicholas A. Federico
David C. Blackburn
Robert P. Guralnick
author_sort Maggie M. Hantak
title Rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years
title_short Rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years
title_full Rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years
title_fullStr Rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years
title_full_unstemmed Rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years
title_sort rapid phenotypic change in a polymorphic salamander over 43 years
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/f0017008b52246e086066535dd7d3fda
work_keys_str_mv AT maggiemhantak rapidphenotypicchangeinapolymorphicsalamanderover43years
AT nicholasafederico rapidphenotypicchangeinapolymorphicsalamanderover43years
AT davidcblackburn rapidphenotypicchangeinapolymorphicsalamanderover43years
AT robertpguralnick rapidphenotypicchangeinapolymorphicsalamanderover43years
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