Conservation status
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists hundreds of species on its Red List of Threatened Species. While some are listed as Least Concern for extinction because their populations are stable, most species on the list are vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
For example, the blunthead salamander, found in a small area of northwestern Mexico, is listed as critically endangered because the species is severely fragmented and the population is on the decline. Currently, there is no known population count. Similarly, Anderson's salamander, also of northwestern Mexico, is critically endangered due to pollution of the lake in which it lives.
Some species of salamanders are shrinking from generation to generation in response to climate change. According to researchers at the University of Maryland, salamanders that live in the Appalachian Mountains are shrinking because they must burn more energy as the local climate gets hotter and drier.