Historic and Contemporary Urban Divergence in Slender Salamanders
The Batrachoseps complex consists of ~15 species and subspecies of Slender Salamanders that are remarkably similar in morphology but that also exhibit high levels of genetic diversity and divergence among species likely a result of their presumed sedentary lifestyle. We are using Species Distribution Models to evaluate the role of environment in generating these genetic differences.
Species Distribution Model of Batrachoseps major in Southern California. Warm colors indicate high predicted probability of presence.