biology

Tennessee cave salamander

Tennessee cave salamander is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tennessee cave salamander rather than just read about it. In short: The Tennessee cave salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to the Appalachian Mountains in the United States. Its natural habitats are streams in caves.

Key takeaways

Tennessee cave salamander belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tennessee cave salamander to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tennessee cave salamander from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Tennessee cave salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to the Appalachian Mountains in the United States. Its natural habitats are streams in caves. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Distribution The Tennessee cave salamander inhabits the southern Cumberland Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains in the United States. Its range includes south-central Tennessee, western North Carolina, northeastern Alabama, northwestern Alabama and northwestern Georgia. The salamander lives in cave systems, and is probably present in some systems as yet unexplored.

Ecology The salamander's diet consists of amphipods and other small aquatic invertebrates that live in caves. It occurs on sand, gravel, mud or rock, in streams, in rimstone pools and in isolated pools. It prefers clear water without sediment. It is occasionally seen outside caves but it is thought that this occurs when it has been accidentally washed out by floodwater. This species is usually paedomorphic. This means it remains in the larval state for all of its life. Paedomorphic individuals breed as larvae, but some individuals continue to develop and undergo metamorphosis in the usual way.

Status G. palleucus lives in caves and is dependent on the quality of the water in the streams that flow through them. Threats it faces include pollution, siltation, flooding, increased water flow and the filling of sinkholes and dumping of trash. This salamander is known from about two dozen sites but probably occurs in other cave systems. Its total area of occupancy is less than 2,000 km2 (800 mi2) and its population in Custard Hollow Cave in Tennessee seems to be decreasing. For these reasons, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as "threatened" and advocates protection of the watersheds that drain into the caverns in which it lives.

References

Citations

Further reading Besharse, J.C. and R.A. Brandon. 1973. "Optomotor response and eye structure in the troglobitic salamander Gyrinophilus palleucus". Amer. Mid. Natur. 89: 463-467.

External links NewScientist.com: Salamanders formed new species despite interbreeding Distribution and relative abundance of Tennessee cave salamanders (Gyrinophilus palleucus and Gyrinophilus gulolineatus) with an emphasis on Tennessee populations Archived 2011-10-03 at the Wayback Machine

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tennessee cave salamander

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tennessee cave salamander claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tennessee cave salamander before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tennessee cave salamander ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tennessee cave salamander

In research: Tennessee cave salamander appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tennessee cave salamander in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tennessee cave salamander is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Amphibians described in 1954, Cave salamanders, Endemic amphibians of the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tennessee cave salamander outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Tennessee cave salamander” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Tennessee cave salamander in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tennessee cave salamander means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tennessee cave salamander out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tennessee cave salamander in simple terms?

Why does Tennessee cave salamander matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tennessee cave salamander?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tennessee cave salamander.