As biologists in today’s world, many of us are faced with the challenge of doing basic research while our study species are declining or are even threatened with extinction. This challenge will only broaden in scope as climate change is predicted to alter the geographic ranges of many of the Earth’s species. Geographic range shifts, contractions, expansions, or extinctions will occur as a result. To understand and mitigate this pressing threat to global biodiversity, it is first essential to understand the mechanisms and processes that underlie species’ geographic range limits. We apply molecular genomic tools, reciprocal transplant experiments, and laboratory experiments to test hypotheses regarding species’ range limits in a variety of amphibian species.

Representative Publications

Beer, M.A., R.A. Kane, S.J. Micheletti, C.P. Kozakiewicz and A. Storfer*. 2022. Landscape genomics of the streamside salamander: Implications for species management in the face of climate change. Evolutionary Applications. https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13321

Micheletti, S. and A. Storfer. 2020. Mixed support for gene flow as a constraint to local adaptation and contributor to the limited geographic range of an endemic salamander. Molecular Ecology. 29: 4091-4101. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15627

Micheletti, S. and A Storfer. 2017. An approach for identifying cryptic barriers to gene flow that limit species’ geographic ranges. Molecular Ecology 26: 490-504.

Trumbo, D.R., B. Epstein, L. Schawazkopf, P.A. Hohenlohe, R. Alford and A. Storfer. 2016. Mixed population genomics support for the central marginal hypothesis across the invasive range of the cane toad (Rhinella marina) in Australia. Molecular Ecology 25: 4161-4176.

Micheletti, S. and A. Storfer. 2015. A test of the central-marginal hypothesis using population genetics and ecological niche modelling in an endemic salamander (Ambystoma barbouri). Molecular Ecology 24: 967-979.

Trumbo, D., S.F. Spear, J. Baumsteiger and A. Storfer. 2013. Rangewide landscape genetics of an endemic Pacific Northwestern salamander. Molecular Ecology. 22: 1250-1266.

Eastman, J.M., J.N. Niedzwiecki, B.P. Nadler and A. Storfer. 2009.  Duration and consistency of historical selection are correlated with adaptive trait evolution in the streamside salamander, Ambystoma barbouri. Evolution 63: 2636–2647.