Effects of experience and context on phototaxic behaviors of larval stream salamanders in the Upper Little Tennessee River basin

Desmognathus quadramaculatus larvae were captured from 2 locations in the Upper Little Tennessee River basin. Naïve individuals with respect to high-light environments were collected within the fully forested Ball Creek watershed at the Coweeta Hydrological Laboratory in Macon County, North Carolina. This watershed is a control basin that has been undisturbed since 1927. Individuals with experience in high-light environments, defined as habituated individuals, were collected from a first-order stream with less than 10% canopy cover located in Rabun County, Georgia. Salamanders were captured opportunistically using dipnets and cover object searches. Upon capture, salamanders were held individually in a cooler during transport where they were placed in containers with a paper towel cover object, native stream water, and kept in a temperature controlled room (15.5 C) with an indirect, natural photoperiod. Individual behaviors were tested within 48 hours of capture, and individuals were released at their capture location within one week.