Citizen Science & Monitoring Alien Antics Understanding the drivers & ecological impacts of non-native newts in the UK By Ali North - University of Plymouth This Spring I was lucky enough to embrace my love of wading through ponds, scrambling through bramble and trudging through bogs, as I embarked on my first field season of my PhD. After eighteen months spent reading about and analysing data on European newts, I was excited to see some real life courtshipfrenzied, spotty-tailed amphibians. My location for the Spring was a network of ponds found within gardens, farms and privatelandholdings in the Ceredigion region of Wales. My aim was to begin to understand the potential consequences of a non-native introduction. Here, the distribution of three species had been mapped several years prior by colleagues at ARC Trust; the humble Palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus), the frilly-tailed Smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) and the rather jazzy greyblue and orange Alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris.)
Citizen Science & Monitoring
Alpine newts are naturally found across mainland Europe but a growing number of established populations are now being reported across the UK. Our understanding of this species as a threat is in its infancy and my research aims to understand the drivers and ecological impacts of their spread. Alpine newts have been associated with the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (a pathogen known for it’s detrimental impacts on amphibians across the globe) and could be effective competitors and predators of native amphibians. Anecdotal reports from across the UK are however indicative of context dependent consequences – some amphibian populations appear to be coexisting whilst others appear to be negatively impacted by this invasion.
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My research is utilising a range of approaches from across population, spatial, molecular ecology and social science to begin to understand the conservation relevance of this invasion. With the field season complete for the year I’ll be diving into lab and statistical analyses and I look forward to sharing the results of my PhD as they emerge. An understanding of the current spread of alpine newts will further aid this research and I’d be grateful to receive any new reports of this species via email alexandra.north@plymouth.ac.uk.
Photo above right: Female alpine newt. This photo: Male alpine newt © Ali North.
This project is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Advanced Research and Innovation in the Environmental Sciences (ARIES) doctoral training partnership and is a collaboration between the University of Plymouth, ARC and ZSL Institute of Zoology.
