Overview

Describing more than 120 species of salamanders occurring in the eastern United States, ecologists Whit Gibbons, Larry Wilson, and Joe Mitchell, provide us with the most comprehensive and authoritative—yet accessible and fun-to-read—guide to these often secretive, always fascinating wonders of nature. Gibbons, Wilson, and Mitchell enumerate the distinguishing characteristics of salamanders, including how they are different from other amphibians and from reptiles, especially lizards. Also discussed are distribution, habitat, behavior and activity, reproduction, food and feeding, predators and defense, conservation, and taxonomy. Accompanying each account are photographs illustrating typical adults and variations and distribution maps for the eastern U.S. and the United States as a whole. Given that a high percentage of the world’s species of salamanders live in the Southeast and Northeast and the scientific and popular concern for the worldwide decline in amphibian populations in general, Salamanders of the Eastern United States will appeal to people of all ages and levels of knowledge interested in natural history and conservation. The guide will help foster the growing interest in salamanders as well as cultivate a desire to protect and conserve these fascinating amphibians and their habitats. FEATURES: conservation-oriented approach more than 400 color photographs more than 80 distribution maps clear species descriptions and photographs sections on biology, worldwide diversity, identification, taxonomy, habitats, and conservation ""Did You Know?"" sidebars of interesting facts

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9780820365732

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"The authors suggest a number of ways in which landowners can manage their properties from the perspective of salamander habitat, including resources to guide in restoration of degraded areas. . . . Salamanders are in trouble . . . and this is what you can do to help them.-- ""Herpetological Review"""

Author Information

Larry Wilson (Author) is an adjunct professor in the Departments of Biology and Environmental Sciences at Emory University (1994-current) and author of The Land Manager’s Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of the South (Nature Conservancy, 1995). He retired from Fernbank Science Center where he worked as the manager of Fernbank Forest, collections manager, and as an ecologist for over thirty years. He has conducted field research with the US Forest Service, Clemson University, Emory, and Fernbank. At Emory he teaches herpetology, tropical ecology, and field studies in southern Africa (Namibia and Botswana). His research interests include herpetofauna of the United States (especially Southeastern salamanders such as the Eastern Hellbender), animal-human conflict species (both in the Southeastern United States and Namibia, Africa). He is an accomplished nature photographer (especially reptiles and amphibians), having been exhibited at several museum, and featured in magazines and journals. Whit Gibbons is a professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Georgia and author or coauthor of several books on herpetology and ecology, including Keeping All the Pieces, Snakes of the Southeast, Revised Edition, Frogs and Toads of the Southeast, Lizards and Crocodiles of the Southeast, Turtles of the Southeast, and Salamanders of the Southeast (all Georgia). Joe Mitchell (1948–2019) was a herpetology research associate at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida and author/co-author of numerous books including Reptiles of Virginia (Smithsonian) and Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles in Virginia (VA Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries), as well as approximately 500 papers on turtles, snakes, and conservation.

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