Meeting Abstract
Jumping performance can have important implications for an animal’s fitness by expanding its ability to evade predators and alter its microhabitat. Jumping in terrestrial plethodontid salamanders is achieved through lateral bending and rapid unbending of the trunk, an action powered by axial musculature. Scansorial plethodontids, some of which are known to utilize arboreal habitats, tend to have more robust limbs and digits, but their jumping has yet to be described. For salamanders occupying canopy niches, jumping could be an efficient approach to descent in response to environmental or predatory cues. Given differences in morphology and habitat use it stands to reason that scansorial plethodontids differ in both jumping biomechanics and performance when compared with terrestrial plethodontids. We compared jumping kinematics in several species of plethodontid salamanders, including arboreal species of the genus Aneides, using high speed imaging and kinematic analysis. Salamanders of the genus Aneides exhibited lower average total and relative jumping distances when compared with the terrestrial plethodontids Eurycea, Desmognathus, and Plethodon, possibly due to more subtle trunk bending. The kinematic analyses suggest that the hind limbs contribute significantly more energy to jumping in arboreal salamanders when compared with closely related terrestrial species that rely primarily on trunk bending and unbending. This suggests an alternative, previously undescribed jumping mechanism in salamanders that may reflect an arboreous lifestyle. Future research will focus on the aerial descent of climbing salamanders after a fall or jump.
