Cari-Ann Hickerson, PhD

Researcher, Part-time Professor and Publications Secretary for the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR)

Phone: 216-397-4587

Email: chickerson@jcu.edu

Location: Dolan Science Center W244

Expertise: Behavioral Ecology, Evolution, Forest-Floor Food Webs, and Herpetology, with an emphasis on the role of territorial behavior in population and community structure.

Research Interests: I am interested in the role of territoriality in shaping food webs, and the evolution and maintenance of color polymorphism in Eastern Red-backed Salamanders, Plethodon cinereus. This species is a model organism used in the study of behavior, ecology, food-web dynamics, evolution, disease ecology, and conservation genetics. I serve as co-advisor (with Dr. Carl Anthony) to students in the Anthony/Hickerson lab. Our students use predatory invertebrates, and red-backed salamanders to understand the ecology and evolution of this broadly distributed and abundant species of salamander. Most recently our lab is investigating the function of biofluorescence in P. cinereus which is a new discovered and sexually dimorphic trait in this species!

Did you know John Carroll University is home to the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) Publications Office? The SSAR is an international professional scientific society that publishes peer reviewed works in two journals and many book titles.

Contact me at ssarpubsec@gmail.com if you have questions about Journal of Herpetology or Herpetologica. SSAR books can be purchased here https://ssarherps.org/publications/bookstore/

Recent Courses:

BL 305L - Herpetology laboratory (CWRU)

BL 4440/4445 - Advanced Ecology lecture and laboratory

BL 2240/2245 – Terrestrial Ecology (field course)

BL 2220 – General Ecology

BL 1705L – Biodiversity laboratory

Recent Publications:

Ryan J.M., S.R. Kuchta, J.I. Watling, C.M. Hickerson, C.D. Anthony. 2024. Color polymorphism and phylogeographic variation of agonistic behavior in the Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus). Herpetologica. LINK.

Anthony, C.D., C. M. Hickerson, T.M. Evers, K.L. Garner, and R.D. Mayer. 2023. Sexually dimorphic biofluorescence of the postcloacal gland in the terrestrial salamander, Plethodon cinereus. Journal of Herpetology. 57(3):262-9.

Kutchta, S.R., M.M. Hantak, B.P. Waldron, C.D. Anthony, C.M. Hickerson, and R.M. Lehtinen. 2022. Hybridization the woodland salamanders Plethodon cinereus and P. electromorphus is not widespread: Revisiting Lehtinen et al. Ichthyology and Herpetology. 110:430-438.

Venesky, M.D., J. DeMarchi, C.M. Hickerson, and C.D. Anthony. 2022. Does the thermal mismatch hypothesis predict disease outcomes in different morphs of a terrestrial salamander? Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology, 1–10. 

Waldron, B.P., M.C. Ganzfried, C.M. Hickerson, and C.D. Anthony. 2022. Repeatability of foraging behavior following a simulated predation attempt depends on color morph, sex, and foraging metric in red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). Published online. Ethology, Ecology, and Evolution. 34:471-484

Hantak, M.M., K.A. Brooks, C.M. Hickerson, C.D. Anthony, and S.R. Kuchta. 2020. A spatiotemporal assessment of dietary partitioning between color morphs of a terrestrial salamander. Copeia 108:727-736.

Venesky, M, J. DeMarchi, R. Marbach, K. Pariyar, C.M. Hickerson, and C.D Anthony. 2020. Female salamanders experience higher parasitism compared to males: a cost of female reproduction? Journal of Herpetology. 54:293-298.

​​Selected Publications:

Cameron, A.C., R.B. Page, J. I. Watling, C.M. Hickerson, and C.D. Anthony. 2019. Using a comparative approach to investigate the relationship between landscape and genetic connectivity among woodland salamander populations. Conservation Genetics. 20:1265-1280. 

Julian, M., C.M. Hickerson, and C.D. Anthony. 2019. Competition and intraguild predation between beetles, Pterostichus stygicus ([order Coleoptera]: [family Carabidae]) and Centipedes, Scolopocryptops sexspinosus ([order Scolopendromorpha]: [family Scolopocryptopidae]). Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 112:473-481. 

​Hankak, M.M., R.B. Page, P.E. Converse, C.D. Anthony, C.M. Hickerson, and S.R. Kuchta. 2019. Do genetic structure and landscape heterogeneity impact color morph frequency in a polymorphic salamander? Ecography. 42:1383-1394.

​Jaworski, K.E., M.S. Lattanzio, C.M. Hickerson, and C.D. Anthony. 2018. Male mate preference as an agent of fecundity in a polymorphic salamander. Ecology and Evolution. 8:8750-8760.

​Hickerson, C.M., C.D. Anthony, and A.M. Figura. 2018. Behavioral interactions between terrestrial salamanders and spiders: competition or intraguild predation? Ethology Ecology and Evolution. 30:285-296.

Anthony, C.D., K. Jaworski, M. Messner, and C.M. Hickerson. 2017. Differences in prey availability within the territories of striped and unstriped Eastern Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). Herpetological Review. 48:509-514.

​Hickerson, C.M., C.D. Anthony, and B.M. Walton. 2017. Eastern Red-backed Salamanders regulate top-down effects in a temperate forest-floor community. Herpetologica. 73:180-189.

​Paluh, D.J., C. Eddy, K. Ivanov, C.M. Hickerson, and C.D. Anthony. 2015. Selective foraging on ants by a terrestrial polymorphic salamander. American Midland Naturalist. 174:265-277.

Reiter, M.K., C.D. Anthony, and C.M. Hickerson. 2014. Territorial behavior and ecological divergence in a polymorphic salamander. Copeia 2014:481-488.

Acord, M.E., C.D. Anthony, and C.M. Hickerson. 2013. Assortative mating in a polymorphic salamander. Copeia. 2013:676-683.

Hickerson, C.M., C.D. Anthony, and B.M. Walton. 2012. Interactions among forest-floor guild members in structurally simple microhabitats. American Midland Naturalist. 168:30-42.

Hickerson, C.M., C.D. Anthony, and B.M. Walton. 2005. Edge effects and intraguild predation in native and introduced centipedes: evidence from the field and from laboratory microcosms. Oecologia 146:100-119.

Hickerson, C.M., C.D. Anthony, and J.A. Wicknick. 2004. Behavioral interactions between salamanders and centipedes: competition in divergent taxa. Behavioral Ecology. 15:679-686.