The habitat quality paradox: loss of riparian forest cover leads to decreased risk of parasitism and improved body condition in an imperiled amphibian.

ABSTRACT: Amphibian declines are a global phenomenon but responses of populations to specific threats are often context dependent and mediated by individual physiological condition. Habitat degradation due to reduced riparian forest cover and parasitism are two threats facing the hellbender salamander (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), but their potential to interact in nature remains largely unexplored. We investigated associations between forest cover, parasitic infection and physiology of hellbenders to test the hypotheses that physiological condition responds to infection and/or habitat degradation. We sampled 17 stream reaches in southwest Virginia, USA, on a year-round basis from 2013 to 2016 and recorded 841 captures of 405 unique hellbenders. At each capture we documented prevalence of t

SUBMITTER: Bodinof Jachowski CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10823334 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature