Salamander Habitats in an Urban Context within Allegheny County

Abstract

Sean Patrick Flynn

Human population growth has led to urbanization. Ecosystems produce habitats for many species in both local and national areas. Salamanders are crucial for ecosystems and urbanization affects them by having habitats being destroyed. Several tools along with a comparison between the Simpson and McIntosh Biodiversity Index, allows the results to show similar scores between the diversity indexes and while the scores are great considering the landscape of Allegheny County, more research needs to be done regarding observations and how the ever-changing environment affects salamanders throughout the life cycle.

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