Evaluation of the combined temperature and relative humidity preferences of the Colombian terrestrial salamander Bolitoglossa ramosi (Amphibia: Plethodontidae)

This study was performed in a field location in the municipality of L íbano, Tolima, Colombia. There, on different nights, we collected 84 adult B. ramosi and carried out the preference experiments, using aluminum troughs with different thermal and RH gradients. We found that between high temperature and high RH, B. ramosi preferred high RH. However, B. ramosi select ed high temperatures when the gradient had a high RH and low temperatures when the gradient had a low RH. These results show that B. ramosi is able to thermoregulate and hydroregulate. Nevertheless, hydroregulation seems to be more important than thermoregulation because B. ramosi always selected th e high RH gradients, while their thermal selection relied on the hydric environment.
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - Category: Zoology Authors: Source Type: research