continued variation in future climate for the Southeast, Walls et al. [130] predicted that increases in
severity and occurrence of drought will likely result in shortened hydroperiods and an overall loss of
long hydroperiod wetlands across the landscape: long hydroperiod wetlands will be reduced to ones of
intermediate hydroperiod and existing short hydroperiod sites will likely dry completely, increasing the
distances between those sites that persist. The loss of species adapted to long-hydroperiod habitats,
along with the elimination of predatory fishes from such sites, will modify the composition of
communities as well as the dynamics of competition and predation within those assemblages.
Figure 1. Complex life cycle [132] of the Mole Salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum.
Black arrows indicate metamorphic pathway; red arrows indicate paedomorphic pathway.
Except during breeding periods, metamorphosed adults occur in the terrestrial habitat; all
other life stages are aquatic.
Connectivity and linkages among local sites is needed for dispersal, colonization and persistence.