Eurycea longicauda (and other amphibians in caves)

[KevinS]

I would have posted this sooner, but I haven't been on the forum in quite a while. I finished my thesis work on Eurycea l. longicauda early this year and thought some of you might be interested in taking a look. Unfortunately I ran into issues with a member of my thesis committee which caused serious delays and I feel like portions of the thesis were rushed as a result. It also forced me to omit some data and analyses I had hoped to include, but I think there's still enough natural history information to be worth a quick read through if you're interested in this species or others that can be found in the caves of Appalachia. The majority of it is a comprehensive literature review, but chapters 6-9 are heavier on my personal observations and data collection.

I had hoped to continue with this research in my spare time even now that I've completed my degree, but access to caves is greatly restricted lately due to the white nose syndrome in bats (basically the bat equivalent of chytrid if you're not familiar with it). Hopefully I'll be able to pick up where I left off at some point in the future though and on the bright side, I'm hoping to get a manuscript accepted for a short publication on Plethodon kentucki as a result of this work. Anyway, here's the abstract and a PDF of the entire thesis if anyone wants to take a look: Marshall University Electronic Theses and Dissertations - Additional Information

If anyone has questions and/or personal experience to contribute on cave-associated salamander populations, I'd be happy to discuss them here.