Dorsal patterns, be they color patterns, lateral line pores (larval salamanders), or whatever, only work in "captive populations" e.g. in impermeable mesocosms or enclosures, or in natural populations in conjunction with some sort of "permanent" means of telling marked from unmarked individuals. Otherwise one is always at risk of simply finding the best match, which may NOT be the same individual.
William J. Resetarits Program Director Population and Community Ecology Cluster Division of Environmental Biology National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 635 [email protected] Voice (703) 292-7184 Fax (703) 292-9064 -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Christopher Brown Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 4:11 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Responses to Marking Salamanders Question To all, I'd like to thank everyone who sent in suggestions for marking green salamanders so as to identify individuals during filmed encounters. I've summarized the suggestions below and indicated our plans, for those interested. Four people suggested using dorsal patterns, either through photo libraries or image analysis software. Two suggested using injectable elastomers and two others suggested fluorescent powder; at least one person for each of these indicated that they may be visible under red lights (which we will use) and without using UV lighting. Two people suggested the use of small rubber bands or hair bands, which apparently can be placed around the body either behind the head, between the legs, or near the legs. And finally, one person suggested supergluing ribbons (or other small objects) onto the backs, which seems to have no adverse effects. Because of our needs (simplicity, the ability to follow the animal easily as it moves, and the ability to sham mark if needed) we're trying the superglue idea first. My student has created some paint dots and glued them near the base of the tail. The retention rate is about 60-70% thus far over 24 hours; however, the glue itself stays put even if the dot does not, so we think we can follow the marked individual this way. If this doesn't work well, we're going to try the rubber/hair bands, using different colors or widths. CAB ******************************************** Chris Brown Associate Professor Dept. of Biology, Box 5063 Tennessee Tech University Cookeville, TN 38505 email: [email protected] website: iweb.tntech.edu/cabrown
