 |
Elizabeth K. Timpe
M.S. Candidate -
Dept of Biological Sciences
|
 |
|
LINKS:
|
RESEARCH INTERESTS
The Ozark Plateau is
a major geographic feature in eastern North America that harbors a
wide diversity of endemic plants and animals. The colonization of
this region is believed to have occurred from numerous independent
invasions from adjacent areas, including the Appalachian Mountains
and the Coastal Plain. Although in recent years there have been
several detailed phylogeographic studies of eastern North American,
few exami
Sean
Graham (Auburn University) and I are currently
examining the phylogeography of the brownback salamander, Eurycea
aquatica. This spring-dwelling species, endemic to Alabama and
northwest Georgia, has had a tumultuous taxonomic past due to its
morphological resemblance to a ubiquitous and phenotypically-variable sister species, the southern two-lined salamander (E. cirrigera).
We are using mitochondrial
Due to an emerging infectious fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, many amphibian populations around the world are declining in catastrophic numbers. To date, few surveys for the presence of this fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) have been conducted or published on amphibian populations in the southeastern United States. Georgia hosts one of the country’s richest and most diverse amphibian faunas, including 55 described species of salamanders and 31 species of frogs. In 2005-2007, I initiated a study where I collected skin samples from over 500 individual amphibians of 45 different species throughout Georgia to determine the presence of Bd. The goal of this study was to conduct a baseline survey of a large number of amphibian taxa in a variety of physiographic regions and ecosystems in Georgia, in order to sample each for the presence of Bd.
|
ADDRESS: PHONE:
Office: (918) 631-2185 |
|
|
||
ne species groups that are distributed across the Ozarks
and surrounding
areas in order to test the origin and dispersal of
fauna into and from this region. Long-tailed salamanders (Genus Eurycea) are
relatively abundant and widely distributed throughout eastern North
America, providing an ideal model system to investigate the faunal
connections between these regions. Using a phylogeny based on
mitochondrial (cyt b, ND2, 16S) and nuclear (Rag1)
DNA sequences, I am testing the patterns and timing of dispersal of
the Eurycea longicauda complex, to make inferences about the
historical biogeography of the Ozark Plateau and the Appalachian
Mountains. 
(ND2) and nuclear sequence data (Rag1)
to get a robust estimate of the genetic diversity within this group
and determine evolutionary significant units which can ultimately be
utilized to determine conservation priorities. Many of these
springs are located within the Birmingham metropolitan area or in
highly cultivated lands of the Ridge and Valley Physiographic
Province of northern Alabama and Georgia and are subject to severe anthropogenic impacts, such as damming, aquifer drying and
pollution. 
