Advisor: Günter Gollmann

Master's Defensio - Tuesday, February 4th 2025, 10:00
Seminarroom 1.2., UBB, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna   

Abstract

During the ongoing global amphibian extinction crisis even widely distributed species like the fire salamander may rapidly decline due to various threats. While this deterioration of the conservation status is expected to proceed in the future and even increase due to the intensifying impacts of climate change, monitoring and understanding natural developments in healthy fire salamander populations becomes urgent. During this study, a population of fire salamanders at Wilhelminenberg, located in Vienna, was monitored to assess the body condition and spatial distribution of adult individuals throughout one year. Between November 2023 and October2024, out of 378 total captures 284 different individuals were identified. The fluctuation of the body condition throughout the year showed a distinct pattern for the sexes. The body condition of adult males was highest during summer, most likely caused by the favorable food availability during the previous months. Increased mating efforts in fall might explain the decrease in body condition during fall reaching its lowest point in winter. For females, the body condition increased throughout the pregnancy in winter and decreased in spring after the larvae were deposited. The distance of individuals to the breeding stream throughout the year showed the trend of a sex-independent fluctuation. The tendency of higher fire salamander activity closer to the stream during the breeding season might be due to females depositing larvae and males increasing their chance of mating.