Abstract Book JMIH 2011 Abstracts for the 2011 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists AES – American Elasmobranch Society ASIH - American Society of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists HL – Herpetologists’ League NIA – Neotropical Ichthyological Association SSAR – Society for the Study of Amphibians & Reptiles Minneapolis, Minnesota 6-11 July 2011 Edited by Martha L. Crump & Maureen A. Donnelly 0165 Fish Biogeography & Phylogeography, Symphony III, Saturday 9 July 2011 Amanda Ackiss1, Shinta Pardede2, Eric Crandall3, Paul Barber4, Kent Carpenter1 1Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA, 2Wildlife Conservation Society, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia, 3Fisheries Ecology Division; Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, 4University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA Corroborated Phylogeographic Breaks Across the Coral Triangle: Population Structure in the Redbelly Fusilier, Caesio cuning The redbelly yellowtail fusilier, Caesio cuning, has a tropical Indo-West Pacific range that straddles the Coral Triangle, a region of dynamic geological history and the highest marine biodiversity on the planet. Caesio cuning is a reef-associated artisanal fishery, making it an ideal species for assessing regional patterns of gene flow for evidence of speciation mechanisms as well as for regional management purposes. We evaluated the genetic population structure of Caesio cuning using a 382bp segment of the mitochondrial control region amplified from over 620 fish sampled from 33 localities across the Philippines and Indonesia. Phylogeographic analysis showed that sites in Western Sumatra formed a single population, resulting in pronounced regional structure between Western Sumatra and the rest of the Coral Triangle (ΦCT=0.4596, p<0.0031). The species' range and measures of genetic diversity at these Indian Ocean localities point toward low effective population size west of Sumatra and indicate that historic changes in sea level and ocean currents during periods of Pleistocene glaciation may have led to divergence between Caesio cuning populations west and east of the Sunda shelf. East of Sumatra, there were significant genetic differences between the central sites sampled from the Philippines south to Java and Nusa Tenggara and the sites west of Halmahera to the edge of our sampling range at Cenderawasih Bay indicating haplotype frequency differences likely driven by regional ocean currents and isolation by distance. ______________________________________________________________________________ 0143 Invasive Species, Symphony I & II, Sunday 10 July 2011 Cory Adams, Daniel Saenz Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Nacogdoches, Texas, USA Chinese Tallow (Triadica sebifera) Reduces Anuran Hatching Success and Hatchling Size Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) is an aggressive invasive tree species found in the southeastern United States and California. It was first introduced into North America in the late 1700s. It has been suggested that Chinese tallow has increased in abundance as much as 500 percent in parts of its invaded range, in just the last two decades. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Chinese tallow leaf litter on the hatching of aquatic eggs of a common anuran, the Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus), compared to leaf litter of native tree species. In the lab, we observed that 1 hatchlings from eggs exposed to Chinese tallow leaf litter were significantly less developed at hatching and significantly smaller in total length than other treatments. Chinese tallow and red maple (Acer rubrum) reduced hatching success of L. sphenocephalus eggs compared to swamp chestnut oak (Quercus michauxii) and a control. Dissolved oxygen and pH of water, factors possibly affecting hatching success, were lower in treatments containing Chinese tallow and red maple leaf litter than other treatments. We suggest that underdevelopment and reduced hatchling size, caused by Chinese tallow leaf litter, may have lasting effects that negatively impact survival in the larval stage. Also, Chinese tallow can reduce amphibian hatching success, similar to red maple, however, Chinese tallow tends to occur in and around wetlands at much higher densities than many native tree species. ______________________________________________________________________________ 0142 Herp Biogeography & Phylogeography, Minneapolis Ballroom E, Sunday 10 July 2011 Dean Adams, James Church Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA Spurious Body Size Clines and Methodological Artifacts from Grid-cell Assemblages: Pattern and Process in Biogeography A major goal in macroecology is to determine how body size varies geographically, and explain why such patterns exist. Recently, a grid-cell assemblage analysis found significant body size trends with latitude and temperature in Plethodon salamanders, and support for the heat-balance hypothesis as a possible explanation. Here we demonstrate that these patterns are methodological artifacts. Using data from 3,155 local assemblages, we find no relationship between body size and latitude, temperature, or elevation in Plethodon assemblages. These findings are in direct contrast to predictions of the heat- balance model. We then examined the various scenarios under which body size clines across grid-cell assemblages could evolve via heat-balance, and found that none were tenable in light of the existing data. Instead, a single, widely distributed species was responsible for the pattern across grid-cell assemblages. We conclude that there is no support for the heat-balance hypothesis as an evolutionary mechanism driving biogeographic trends in body size in Plethodon. Assemblage-level patterns are a useful means of assessing biogeographic trends, and are an important complement to within- species and cross-species patterns. However, while the use of grid-cell assemblage approaches from digital databases is expedient, their results must be examined critically, and whenever possible, compared with data obtained from local species assemblages (particularly for selective mechanisms that operate at the level of individuals). Finally, our results emphasize the importance of using corroborative data to evaluate alternative hypotheses, so that potential mechanisms that explain bioegeographic patterns are properly assigned. ______________________________________________________________________________ 2 0292 Herp Conservation, Minneapolis Ballroom E, Saturday 9 July 2011 Collette Adkins Giese Center for Biological Diversity, Minneapolis, MN, USA Protecting Herpetofauna Under the Endangered Species Act In the United States, about 20 percent of amphibians and 10 percent of reptiles are at risk of extinction. In response to the threats facing herpetofauna, the Center for Biological Diversity -- a non-profit, public interest environmental organization dedicated to the protection of all native species and their habitats -- recently hired the world's first attorney dedicated exclusively to the protection of amphibians and reptiles. As both a scientist and a lawyer, the herpetofauna staff attorney will discuss the Center's work to seek and implement protections for herpetofauna under the Endangered Species Act. For example, the Center is developing a database to gather information necessary to evaluate the status of all imperiled amphibians and reptiles in the United States. The Center will use the database to inform petitions for herpetofauna that warrant protection as threatened or endangered species but are not yet listed under the Endangered Species Act. The Center is also working to protect essential habitats for amphibians and reptiles, including the California tiger salamander, Ozark hellbender, and Virgin Islands tree boa. To address significant threats to herpetofauna posed by pesticides, the Center is using litigation to force the Environmental Protection Agency to consider pesticide impacts on listed species during its pesticide registration reviews. Finally, the presentation will address the Center's work to address unsustainable commercial harvest of herpetofauna, including freshwater turtles and the eastern diamondback rattlesnake. ______________________________________________________________________________ 0694 Fish Ecology II, Minneapolis Ballroom G, Monday 11 July 2011 Mia Adreani, Mark Steele California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA Estimating Fecundity, Spawning Frequency and Spawning Season Length of Temperate Reef Fish: A Comparison of Natural and Artificial Rocky Reefs The reproductive output of fishes is often used as a measure of the health and productivity of a given population. This measure may be of particular importance when habitat is altered in some way. Artificial reefs may provide new space for fishes to inhabit, but it is unclear whether fishes reproduce at the same rate on natural and artificial reefs. We tested whether the overall reproductive output on a large artificial reef was similar to nearby natural reefs using three of the most abundant species on rocky reefs in the Southern California Bight (California sheephead, kelp bass and senorita). Fish were collected during their reproductive season and we measured a range of reproductive parameters, including batch fecundity, spawning frequency and the length of the spawning season using visual assessments, gonad histology and egg counts. While there was some variation in the specific measures, our estimates of reproductive output for each of the three species were similar across all of the