30 

 critical to understanding the population dynamics and stability 

 of the species. For instance, what is the potential for 

 recolonization of impacted sites? How important are habitat 

 conditions between sites (corridors) for dispersal? How does 

 elimination of a site contribute to genetic isolation of adjacent 

 sites? What contribution does each site make to the viability of 

 the metapopulation? These questions could be addressed by a 

 study of the genetic relatedness of salamanders within a site and 

 among sites. Such a study has been initiated by the Montana 

 Natural Heritage Program in cooperation with the University of 

 Montana. Other possible methods include marking and following 

 individuals at sites in close proximity (see population 

 estimation section for discussion of marking) , or attempting to 

 remove all salamanders from selected sites and examining 

 recolonization rates. 



