Synopses & Reviews
Describing 102 species of salamanders occurring in the southeastern United States, ecologists Joe Mitchell and Whit Gibbons provide us with the most comprehensive and authoritative, yet accessible and fun-to-read, guide to these often secretive, always fascinating wonders of nature.
Mitchell and Gibbons 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 Southeast and the United States.
Given that 17 percent of the world’s species of salamanders live in the Southeast and the scientific and popular concern for the worldwide decline in amphibian populations in general, Salamanders of the Southeast 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
- 77 distribution maps
- Clear descriptions and photographs of each species
- Sections on biology, worldwide diversity, identification, taxonomy, habitats, and conservation
- “Did You Know?” sidebars of interesting facts
Review
“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. . . . [T]he authors have presented a perfect circle of argument within the book’s covers: salamanders are in trouble. . . and this is what you can do to help them out of trouble.”—Jeff Boundy, Herpetological Review
About the Author
Joe Mitchell is a certified senior ecologist with the Ecological Society of America and is the owner of Mitchell Ecological Research Services. He is author of The Reptiles of Virginia and Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles in Virginia. Whit Gibbons, a professor of ecology emeritus at the University of Georgia and head of the Environmental Outreach and Educational Program at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, has written or coauthored more than a dozen popular and scientific ecology books.
Table of Contents
Contents
All About Salamanders
Why Salamanders? 1
Defining the Southeast 5
Biology of Salamanders 5
Salamander Diversity around the World 18
Salamander Taxonomy 22
How to Identify Salamanders 24
Salamander Habitats in the Southeast
Freshwater Wetland Habitats 32
Terrestrial Habitats 36
Species Accounts
Organization and Order of Species Accounts 41
Aquatic Salamanders 45
Aquatic Cave Salamanders 84
Stream and Seep Salamanders 95
Seasonal Wetland Salamanders 173
Forest Terrestrial Salamanders 217
People and Salamanders
What Is a Herpetologist? 293
Keeping Salamanders as Pets 298
A Conservation Vision of Salamanders 301
What Kinds of Salamanders Are Found In Your State? 306
Glossary 309
Further Reading 313
Acknowledgments 315
Credits 317
Index of Scientific Names 319
Index of Common Names 321