Genetic mechanisms of amphibian colour pattern and toxicity in the natural environment

Keywords: Evolutionary biology; ecology

Abstract:

Colouration plays a key role in the ecology and life history of most species across all branches of the animal tree of life. Amphibians present some of the most striking colour patterns found in animals, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this variation have remained among the most poorly understood of any vertebrate.

Fire salamanders endogenously produce poisonous secretions from specialised glands that they use in predator defence. Additionally, they are famously variable in colour and pattern across lineages. Yet despite a considerable body of research on salamanders over hundreds of years, the relationships between colour, the environment, and toxicity has not been established. Further, the evolutionary and ecological factors that drive local colour variations have not been determined.

Fire salamanders in Europe are of major conservation concern. If the environment plays an important role on the evolution of such colourations, it is of outmost interest to understand the molecular basis of such mechanisms and their potential response to global warming that is predicted to affect salamander populations in the next decades.

This project will break new ground in our understanding of adaptation, chemical defence, and the genetic basis of colouration, using fire salamanders as a biological model. There will be opportunities for field and/or experimental work with salamanders, molecular laboratory work, and advanced statistical and genomic data analysis.