To all,
My graduate student and I are attempting to temporarily mark individuals
for an intraspecific competition experiment in the green salamander
Aneides aeneus. These are being filmed under red light to simulate
nocturnal conditions. Nearly all the marking techniques I know of or
that we have run across are designed primarily for mark-recapture work,
and are either not visible or introduce potentially confounding elements
to the experiment. Toe clipping and threads are not easily visible, and
tail clipping has the potential to impact competition. Fluorescent dyes
or elastomers are possible, but we'd need to use a UV light source and
we're unsure how this would affect behavior; in addition, they're
somewhat difficult to discern on tape with the red/UV combo. Does anyone
have any suggestions for marking techniques, preferably short-term (<24
h), that would work for these animals?
My thanks in advance for any suggestions, and you can contact me
off-list if you'd prefer.
Chris
********************************************
Chris Brown
Associate Professor
Dept. of Biology, Box 5063
Tennessee Tech University
Cookeville, TN 38505
email: [email protected]
website: iweb.tntech.edu/cabrown
