moist conditions for cutaneous respiration, causing them to retreat underground when surface moisture is lacking. With longer periods of time between rainfalls, salamanders presumably have less access to food and therefore a larger proportion of the population may be observed foraging at the surface after rain. Comparing P. hubrichti to P. cinereus, a wide-ranging species, provides some understanding as to why P. hubrichti is restricted to higher elevations, great than 488 m. Plethodon cinerus can live in a broader range of temperatures than P. hubrichti, but P. hubrichti can live at lower temperatures than P. cinerus. P. hubrichti has a lower critical thermal maximum (temperature at which the organism cannot function) and higher dehydration rates than P. cinerus, restricting it to higher elevations. Such characteristics allow P. hubrichti to do well in higher elevations but also makes them more susceptible to physiological stress from changes in temperature and humidity. The increases in temperature and decreases in relative humidity could keep P. hubrichti from largely inhabiting lower elevational areas because of decreased foraging efficiency. As poor thermoregulators, they rely on nocturnal activity, burrowing, and refuges such as rocks and logs to achieve the ideal thermal and moisture conditions. The salamanders typically burrow deep into the soil to escape winter cold and summer heat, as well as dry or otherwise unfavorable conditions. Because of their dependence on moisture, they are most active above the surface directly following a rainfall event. In the optimal elevation range (900 to 1000 m), P. hubrichti might be able to primarily forage on top of vegetation where they forage with the greatest efficiency. Poorer environmental conditions at lower elevations force P. hubrichti to forage in less ideal areas such as under rocks and logs to keep from drying out. Such restricted and less efficient foraging along with general physiological stress might result in the decreased reproductive output and survival rates found in salamander populations at lower elevations. Shortened active seasons at elevations above the optimum from decreased temperatures could also influence SA salamander density and reproductive output. Community ecology For many species, interspecific competition is an important limiting factor of population size, biomass, species richness, and home range sizes. Given the limited distribution of P. hubrichti, it is important to recognize how it may be affected by interspecific competition. The red-backed salamander (P. cinereus), a much more widespread Plethodon, surrounds most of the range of P. hubrichti.