ECOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF PANAMANIAN GOLDEN FROGS.

Abstract

The conservation of endangered species is best achieved by studies that consider both ecological and evolutionary aspects of population viability. Integrative research of this type is especially important for amphibian species as they have been plagued by rapid, global declines and extinctions in recent decades. The aims of this dissertation were to contribute to the conservation of two such declining amphibians, the Panamanian golden frogs, Atelopus varius and A. zeteki, as well as demonstrate the combined utilities of morphological, ecological, and genetic analyses in providing an integrative framework for informing wildlife conservation initiatives. The results of this research engender several important considerations for the conservation of these critically endangered and culturally important amphibians. In my first study, multivariate phenotypic and mitochondrial DNA analyses were used to verify that previously defined management units are supported by concordant patterns of variation among populations as well as to identify phenotypic traits that may be associated with adaptive divergence. The second study examined the contributions of alternative landscape factors to patterns of genetic variation among golden frog populations, highlighting the importance of maintaining the integrity of low slope areas, such as riparian habitat corridors and mountain ridges, for gene flow. The third and final study demonstrated the importance of genetic and phenotypic variability in allowing golden frog populations to adapt to environmental change by examining the relationship between thermoregulation behavior and susceptibility to a fungal epidemic. Here I demonstrated that the behavioral fever response mounted by one golden frog population is effective in reducing the odds of infection during a chytridiomycosis epidemic. I concluded by summarizing the implications of this work for the management of Panamanian golden frogs and considering the applicability of these findings to the conservation of other endangered species of Atelopus.