...Sandy M. Kawano; Richard W. Blob ABSTRACT Amphibious fishes and salamanders are valuable functional analogs for vertebrates that spanned the water–land transition. However, investigations of walking mechanics have focused on terrestrial salamanders and, thus, may better reflect the capabilities...

... microbiota may influence the relationship between temperature and digestion. To explore the connections between these three factors, we compared digestive performance and gut microbial community diversity and composition in red-backed salamanders housed at three experimental temperatures: 10, 15 and 20°C. We...

... systems by examining muscle from two species of plethodontid salamanders that use elastically powered tongue projection to capture prey and one that uses non-elastic tongue projection. In species with elastic mechanisms, tongue projection is characterized by higher mechanical power output and thermal...

... salamander Prey capture is challenging when switching between aquatic and terrestrial environments. Most aquatic vertebrates use a hydrodynamic mechanism, which typically includes a fast oropharyngeal volume expansion by means of abduction of the jaws and hyobranchial elements. This generates...

... changes. Yet, among amphibians, the physiological impacts of short-term temperature variation are largely unknown. Using an ex situ population of Cryptobranchus alleganiensis , an aquatic North American salamander, we tested the hypothesis that naturally occurring periods of temperature variation...

...Erin R. Graham; Scott A. Fay; Adam Davey; Robert W. Sanders SUMMARY Each spring, North American spotted salamander ( Ambystoma maculatum ) females each lay hundreds of eggs in shallow pools of water. Eggs are surrounded by jelly layers and are deposited as large gelatinous masses. Following...

...K. Megan Sheffield; Richard W. Blob SUMMARY Salamanders are often used as representatives of the basal tetrapod body plan in functional studies, but little is known about the loads experienced by their limb bones during locomotion. Although salamanders' slow walking speeds might lead to low...

.... ( 2001 ). Ion Channels and Excitable Membranes . Sunderland, MA: Sinauer. Holomuzki, J. R. ( 1986 ). Predator avoidance and diel patterns of microhabitat use by larval tiger salamanders. Ecology 67 , 737 -748. Johnson, B. R., Voigt, R., Borroni, P. F. and Atema, J. ( 1984 ). Response...

... 2 2007 © The Company of Biologists Limited 2007 2007 arginine amino acid tetrodotoxin TTX newt salamander Taricha torosa predator prey cannibalism chemical signal olfaction adult-larval interaction odor plume feeding foraging search Cellular mechanisms...

... in fishes. The lateral hypaxial musculature (LHM) of salamanders is less anatomically complex and therefore a good system for exploring the basic mechanics of segmented musculature. Here, we derive a mathematical model of the LHM and test our model using sonomicrometry and electromyography during steady...

...Stephen M. Deban; Ursula Dicke SUMMARY Salamanders of the genus Hydromantes project their tongues the greatest distance of any amphibian to capture prey, up to 80% of body length or approximately 6 cm in an adult individual. During tongue projection on distant prey, the tongue is shot ballistically...

... Limited 2004 2004 newt salamander Taricha torosa kinematics terrestrial locomotion aquatic locomotion The view of tetrapod evolution typically presented in undergraduate textbooks is that limbs evolved specifically for terrestrial locomotion, which was of selective advantage...

...Tom McKean; Guolian Li; Kong Wei SUMMARY The aquatic form of the tiger salamander Ambystoma tigrinum lives in high-altitude ponds and is exposed to a hypoxic environment that may be either chronic or intermittent. In many animal species, exposure to hypoxia stimulates cardiac output and is followed...

...Emanuel Azizi; Tobias Landberg SUMMARY Although numerous studies have described the escape kinematics of fishes, little is known about the aquatic escape responses of salamanders. We compare the escape kinematics of larval and adult Eurycea bislineata , the two-lined salamander, to examine...

... and oxygen conductance increased in response to hypoxia. We investigated this possibility in two salamander species, Ambystoma annulatum and Ambystoma talpoideum . The effective surface area of egg capsules increased in response to hypoxia, which increased the conductance for oxygen and enhanced oxygen...

... a lizard ( Iguana iguana ) and a salamander ( Dicamptodon ensatus ), suggests that hypaxial muscles function to bend the body during swimming and to resist long-axis torsion during walking. The second, supported by EMG data from lizards during relatively high-speed locomotion, suggests that these muscles...

...Elizabeth A. Sheafor; Stephen C. Wood; Glenn J. Tattersall ABSTRACT The hypothesis that the lungless salamander Desmognathus fuscus responds actively to hypoxia was tested. Patterns of buccal movements [apneic period duration, the duration (min h −1 ) of buccal pumping and buccal pumping frequency...

...Rachel S. Simons; Wallace O. Bennett; Elizabeth L. Brainerd ABSTRACT The mechanics of lung ventilation in frogs and aquatic salamanders has been well characterized, whereas lung ventilation in terrestrial-phase (post-metamorphic) salamanders has received little attention. We used electromyography...

...Stephen M. Deban; Ursula Dicke ABSTRACT Four species of salamander of the family Plethodontidae were examined using electromyographic (EMG) recording during prey-capture behavior to test the hypotheses that the tongue retractor, tongue protractor and jaw depressor muscles are activated...

.... Consistent with a photoreceptor-based magnetic compass mechanism, magnetic orientation responses in salamanders, flies and birds have been shown to be affected by the wavelength of light. In birds and flies, it is unclear whether the effects of light on magnetic orientation are due to a direct effect...