Carryover effects minimized the positive effects of treated wastewater on anuran development.

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are a potential solution for wastewater treatment due to their capacity to support native species and provide tertiary wastewater treatment. However, CWs can expose wildlife communities to excess nutrients and harmful contaminants, affecting their development, morphology, and behavior. To examine how wastewater CWs may affect wildlife, we raised Southern leopard frogs, Lithobates sphenocephalus, in wastewater from conventional secondary lagoon and tertiary CW treatments for comparison with pondwater along with the presence and absence of a common plant invader to these systems - common duckweed (Lemna minor) - and monitored their juvenile development for potential carryover effects into the terrestrial environment.

Interspecific interactions are conditional on temperature in an Appalachian stream salamander community.

Differences in the rates of responses to climate change have the potential to disrupt well-established ecological interactions among species. In semi-aquatic communities, competitive asymmetry based on body size currently maintains competitive exclusion and coexistence via interference competition. Elevated temperatures are predicted to have the strongest negative effects on large species and aquatic species.

Interactive effects of temperature and glyphosate on the behavior of blue ridge two-lined salamanders (Eurycea wilderae).

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the potential interactive effects of stream temperatures and environmentally relevant glyphosate-based herbicide concentrations on movement and antipredator behaviors of larval Eurycea wilderae (Blue Ridge two-lined salamander). Larval salamanders were exposed to 1 of 4 environmentally relevant glyphosate concentrations (0.00 µg acid equivalent [a.

Variable infection of stream salamanders in the southern Appalachians by the trematode Metagonimoides oregonensis (family: Heterophyidae).

Many factors contribute to parasites varying in host specificity and distribution among potential hosts. Metagonimoides oregonensis is a digenetic trematode that uses stream-dwelling plethodontid salamanders as second intermediate hosts in the Eastern US. We completed a field survey to identify which stream salamander species, at a regional level, are most likely to be important for transmission to raccoon definitive hosts.

Effects of urbanization on occupancy of stream salamanders.

Urban development is the most common form of land conversion in the United States. Using a before-after control-impact study design, we investigated the effects of urbanization on larval and adult stages of southern two-lined salamanders (Eurycea cirrigera) and northern dusky salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus). Over 5 years, we estimated changes in occupancy and probabilities of colonization and survival in 13 stream catchments after urbanization and in 17 catchments that were not urbanized.

Intraerythrocytic rickettsial inclusions in Ocoee salamanders (Desmognathus ocoee): prevalence, morphology, and comparisons with inclusions of Plethodon cinereus.

Reports of an unusual intraerythrocytic pathogen in amphibian blood have been made for decades; these pathogens appear as membrane-bound vacuoles within erythrocytes. It is now understood that the pathogen is a Rickettsia bacteria, which are obligate intracellular parasites, and most are transmitted by arthropod vectors. In an effort to further understand the host range and characteristics of this pathogen, we examined 20 Ocoee salamanders (Desmognathus ocoee) from a site in southwest North Carolina for the presence of rickettsial inclusions and report the general characteristics of infections.

New findings from an old pathogen: intraerythrocytic bacteria (family Anaplasmatacea) in red-backed salamanders Plethodon cinereus.

During a recent study of red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus), we discovered an intraerythrocytic organism typified by violet-staining, intracellular inclusions, consistent with descriptions of Cytamoeba or Aegyptianella (bacteria). Here we characterize its taxonomic status using molecular techniques and ask basic questions about its nature. Blood smears from 102 salamanders were examined from Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia to determine prevalence, and whole blood from several infected animals was tested using a PCR which targets the 16S rRNA gene of bacteria.

Patterns of trombiculid mite (Hannemania dunni) parasitism among plethodontid salamanders in the western Piedmont of North Carolina.

Trombiculid mites are known to parasitize a variety of amphibian species, yet few comparisons of mite parasitism among amphibian species have been made. In this study, we investigated patterns of trombiculid mite parasitism among 3 plethodontid salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus, Eurycea cirrigera, and Plethodon cylindraceus) in the western Piedmont of North Carolina. All 3 salamander species were parasitized by a single species, Hannemania dunni.