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The Science Seminar Series: September 20, 2012
Where the wild things are…and aren’t: ethological and macroecological investigations of amphibian species distributions
Dr. Cy Mott
Department of Biology
Valdosta State University
Time: 4:00 -5:00pm
Abstract
Species’ geographic ranges are considered the ultimate expression of their ecological niche, and range size is generally accepted as an accurate predictor of extinction risk. However, efforts to determine why species exhibit widely varying patterns of spatial distribution have only scratched the surface of why “species are where they are”. In addition, most efforts have focused on distributional patterns of birds and mammals, despite the fact that amphibians are one of Earth’s most imperiled vertebrate groups. In this presentation I will review individual, population, and species-level investigations that seek to identify the ecological and evolutionary processes creating and maintaining geographic range size and shape, as well as the conservation implications of such immense variation in spatial distribution.