A Literature Review of Unisexual Ambystoma and Related Polyploid Hybrid Survival and Development

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dc.contributorLijek, Rebeccah
dc.contributorBallantine, Kate
dc.contributor.advisorWoodard, Craig
dc.contributor.authorMaxfield, Sophie
dc.date.accessioned2021-07-02T13:57:02Z
dc.date.available2021-07-02T13:57:02Z
dc.date.gradyear2021en_US
dc.date.issued2021-07-02
dc.description.abstractThe Ambystoma laterale-jeffersonianum complex is a collection of salamander populations inhabiting a significant portion of New England, including western Massachusetts. This complex consists of two groups, sexuals and unisexuals. Sexual A. laterale and A. jeffersonianum are diploid and reproduce sexually. Unisexuals, conversely, range from haploid to pentaploid, and are simply classified as Ambystoma, having no true species identity. This population of unisexual salamanders consists entirely of females which can reproduce both sexually and asexually (Bogart et al, 2007). Within this complex, unisexuals can sexually reproduce only with sexual males, often resulting in hybrid offspring (Charney et al., 2014). Due to the incongruence of ploidy between sexuals and unisexuals, hybrid offspring range in ploidy from haploid to pentaploid as well. While hybrids can develop into completely healthy, phenotypically normal adults, they face an extremely high mortality rate as embryos prior to the first cleavage event (Avis, 2019; Charney et al., 2019). Throughout my research, I have amassed information regarding the Ambystoma complex’s embryogenesis, genetics, and environment in an attempt to consolidate much of what is currently known about them in the literature. In addition, I here propose multiple experiments that could be completed by future thesis students and other researchers in order to determine what factors play a role in causing this high mortality rate in early hybrid embryos.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipBiological Sciencesen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10166/6319
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rights.restrictedpublicen_US
dc.subjectBiologyen_US
dc.subjectAmbystomaen_US
dc.subjectDevelopmental Biologyen_US
dc.subjectGeneticsen_US
dc.subjectHabitat Conservationen_US
dc.subjectHerpetologyen_US
dc.titleA Literature Review of Unisexual Ambystoma and Related Polyploid Hybrid Survival and Developmenten_US
dc.typeThesis
mhc.degreeUndergraduateen_US
mhc.institutionMount Holyoke College

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