Talk:Speleomantes strinatii

Wiki Education assignment: Behavioral Ecology 2022

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 30 August 2022 and 9 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Sophieeichler (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Elwhoelwu, Gracedekoker, Jsun2148, Reni.Akande.

— Assignment last updated by CalJS (talk) 21:07, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

Behavioral Ecology 2022 Edits - Reni A.

Throughout the article, I made a couple grammatical edits. I took the last paragraph under “conservation” and made it its own section under enemies, but more specifically disease because I felt that it didn’t properly go under conservation. I also edited the section under parental care, giving distinction to the topic of egg guarding that was clearly discussed in this section. Under reproduction and life cycle I also divided up the infromation into two subtopics of fertilization and life-span. This was done in order to give better distinction to the information that was being presented within the topic. I also changed the order of the article a bit by adding the section on enemies near the bottom, which changed the location of other sections surrounding it. Reni.Akande (talk) 21:48, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

Grace D. Edits

I made a few spelling and grammar edits, and fixed some typos. The article had a lot of great content, but I did make some Wikipedia page organizational edits: I moved the Conservation section further down on the Wikipedia page, and combined several sections (protective coloration, diet, and homing range and territoriality) under the broader heading of behavior to have a better organization structure that is easier for readers to navigate. I also added a subsection heading of “microbial threats” to be more specific in the conservation section. I contributed new information added the section below on diet, and added more information about the salamanders’ skin secretions as protection against fungal infections (addition of one source to each, as listed in the article). I think Reni and I were editing at the same time, so there may have been some overlap in our changes, but I re-instated the Reni's edits of the egg-guarding, fertilization, and lifespan changes sections that Reni added but I unknowingly "undid" when I published my edits- they were great changes so should definitely be included! I also changed every time they wrote out the full name Speloeomantes stranatii to S. Strinatii which is scientific practice. This was a really strong article, nice job! Gracedekoker (talk) 13:54, 16 November 2022 (UTC)Gracedekoker

Peer Review

I deleted the first small paragraph in the description portion because it repeated the same information found in the lead section. In addition, the list of synonymous names and the scientific name’s Latin roots is not a form of description as much as it is background information.

There are sections of the text where there is missing citation, or the ends of sentences do not have citations. I’m not sure what studies are being references, but regardless, they require references.

To improve clarity of citation in the article, I added the name of the scientists (to supplement the data) who did most of the research found under the “Egg Guarding” section.

I deleted the section titled “Protective Coloration” and added to the contents to the “Microbial Threats” section. The contents found in the “Protective Coloration” largely focused on it’s the frog’s ability to secret and mucus to protect it from disease; thus, I thought it was more appropriate to move this section.

The sections were reordered to fulfill the criteria given to us by Professor Straussman.

I added photos of the species throughout the Wikipedia page.

Although information was generally a bit sparse, the page hit on a wide range of topics and did so very concisely. A few edits to citations would make this Wikipedia page stand out! Jsun2148 (talk) 00:21, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

Peer Review

Description

Removed “An especially noticeable difference can be seen with the salamander's gender” use sex not gender for non-human life replaced with “S. strinatii is highly sexually dimorphic” please verify

“S. strinatii have an oval-shaped head, and a rounded snout, and possess a slight overbite that is more pronounced in males.” Parallel structure and redundant have/possess

“S. strinatii's hind legs limbs are slightly longer than their front legs limbs.”

“The S. strinatii also have highly variable coloring coloration and patterns. ^{[citation needed]”}

Replaced common name with S. strinatii for consistency

“The most common shades of the S. strinatii are commonly a sort of brown and black in color.” Hesitant word choice

“or a sort of metallic sheen” hesitant word choice

Habitat and Distribution

Replaced long sci. name with S. strinatii for consistency

“commonly found at elevations between sea level and 0 to 2290 meters above sea level”

Removed “such as the Apuan Alps (elevation of 1730 meters)” irrelevant

Removed “In other words, when the environmental conditions in their natural habitats are S., the French Cave Salamander can move to different habitats with more suitable conditions.” This does not make sense

“They greatly prefer moist, wet, and humid environments” redundant, use fewer adverbs

“The salamander is most reliably found in caves, crevices, and other cavities that they can find from late spring to summer.” Obvious

Removed “S. strinatii can also be observed in various epigeous environments from autumn to early spring when outside conditions are cold and wet.” Epigeous makes this sentence nonsensical

Removed “In late spring and summer, the salamander usually inhabits caves, crevices, and other cavities they can find.^[1]” Already mentioned

“This list declared S. strinatii to be an endangered species, as because the population size of this particular salamander has been notably was declining” redundant and obvious

Removed “Interestingly, a A specific reason for this species' decline has not yet been determined. However” Because it is incongruent with the following sentence

“Known threats to S. strinatii include residential and commercial development, human intrusions and disturbances” redundant

Replaced “and invasive and other problematic species, genes, and diseases” poor syntax with “invasive species”

“There is a localized loss of habitat due to logging, tourist developments, and urbanization, and localized disturbance by tourism, specifically in Italy.” Poor syntax

Replaced “microclimatic” with “climatic” redundant with use of narrow

“This is increasingly problematic as the climate layers their distribution and activity.” This does not make sense

Behavior

“S. strinatii can move about 10 meters per day when moving along the forest floor in favorable conditions.” The rest of the paragraph talks about caves this transition to forest floors needs to be introduced

“There have been no observed sex-based differences in the homing capacities of S. strinatii.^[1]” homing ability must be introduced

“These salamanders tend to take in more energy and food eat more in the autumn season

” redundant

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Replaced “gravid” with pregnant

“After 8 months, the eggs will double in size.” Verify if this is true

Grammar edits

Parental Care

Grammar edits

Well written

You did a good job expanding this stub! Parental care was very well written. The writing under habitat and distribution needs a lot of touching up though Elwhoelwu (talk) 01:56, 28 November 2022 (UTC)