{"id":{"repo_id":"buffalo","oai_identifier":"oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/78454"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/buffalo/oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/78454","repository":{"repo_id":"buffalo","name":"Buffalo","base_url":"https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Lessons from the Past: A Historical Approach to Conservation of the Eastern Hellbender Salamander (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)","abstract":"Ph.D.","abstract_html":"Ph.D.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Foster, Robin"],"institution":"State University of New York at Buffalo","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Larsen, Chris","Evolution, Ecology and Behavior"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-10-25T15:25:31Z","date_published":"2018-10-25T15:25:31Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:09Z","subjects":["conservation biology","ecology","wildlife conservation"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78454","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Larsen, Chris","Evolution, Ecology and Behavior"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Foster, Robin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2018-10-25T15:25:31Z","2018","2018-08-06 15:46:07"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["State University of New York at Buffalo"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text","Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["conservation biology","ecology","wildlife conservation"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78454"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Ph.D.","Uncertainty is an inevitable challenge in species conservation. For rare and elusive species, data related to spatial distribution and abundance, both past and present, are often incomplete. The growing field of historical ecology has recently emerged as a powerful tool for reducing uncertainty in conservation planning. I carried out three investigations to illustrate how historical ecology can be employed to enhance our understanding of regional-scale declines in the Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), an elusive aquatic amphibian. First, I used historical information sources, including newspapers, periodicals, natural history texts, and museum specimens to examine changes to hellbender distribution in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland over the past 200 years, and explore how human attitudes and human interactions with hellbenders may have influenced their decline in this region. Next, I integrated historical occurrence data with a species distribution model, environmental DNA (eDNA), and traditional field survey methods to assess the current distribution of hellbenders and their habitat across poorly-studied areas of the species’ range in New York State. Finally, I examined the pattern of historical, archaeological, and paleontological accounts of hellbender presence over space and time to investigate the hypothesis that hellbenders are a relatively recent arrival to the Susquehanna River watershed."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Lessons from the Past: A Historical Approach to Conservation of the Eastern Hellbender Salamander (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Larsen, Chris","Evolution, Ecology and Behavior"],"dc:creator":["Foster, Robin"],"dc:date":["2018-10-25T15:25:31Z","2018","2018-08-06 15:46:07"],"dc:description":["Ph.D.","Uncertainty is an inevitable challenge in species conservation. For rare and elusive species, data related to spatial distribution and abundance, both past and present, are often incomplete. The growing field of historical ecology has recently emerged as a powerful tool for reducing uncertainty in conservation planning. I carried out three investigations to illustrate how historical ecology can be employed to enhance our understanding of regional-scale declines in the Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), an elusive aquatic amphibian. First, I used historical information sources, including newspapers, periodicals, natural history texts, and museum specimens to examine changes to hellbender distribution in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland over the past 200 years, and explore how human attitudes and human interactions with hellbenders may have influenced their decline in this region. Next, I integrated historical occurrence data with a species distribution model, environmental DNA (eDNA), and traditional field survey methods to assess the current distribution of hellbenders and their habitat across poorly-studied areas of the species’ range in New York State. Finally, I examined the pattern of historical, archaeological, and paleontological accounts of hellbender presence over space and time to investigate the hypothesis that hellbenders are a relatively recent arrival to the Susquehanna River watershed."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78454"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["State University of New York at Buffalo"],"dc:rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"dc:subject":["conservation biology","ecology","wildlife conservation"],"dc:title":["Lessons from the Past: A Historical Approach to Conservation of the Eastern Hellbender Salamander (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)"],"dc:type":["Text","Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:09Z"}