A Telemetric Study of the Movement Patterns and Habitat Use of Rana muscosa, the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog, in a High-Elevation Basin in Kings Canyon National Park, California

Abstract

The mountain yellow-legged frog, Rana muscosa, was once one of the most common amphibians in high elevation aquatic ecosystems of the S i e rra Nevada (Grinnell and Store r, 1 9 2 4 ; Zweifel, 1955), but has become increasingly rare (Bradford et al., 1993; Jennings, 1996). The primary reason for the decline has been attributed to the introduction of trout into the originally fishless habitats where R.

Removal of nonnative fish results in population expansion of a declining amphibian (mountain yellow-legged frog, Rana muscosa)

“…The fact that no frogs were ever seen in the fish-containing stream below Cony Lake or in the stream between No Good and Frog Lakes suggests that R. muscosa may more likely have dispersed over land (Marmot Lake to Frog Lake, and from Marmot Lake to Cony Lake and then over-land to No Good Lake). If so, the required over-land movements of at least 400 m and 200 m, respectively, would represent remarkable dispersal events for this highly aquatic species (Matthews and Pope, 1999;Pope and Matthews, 2001). Interestingly, R. muscosa were first detected at both Frog and No Good Lakes immediately following an unusually rainy 3-week period in July 2003.…”

“…Second, frogs spend the majority of the ice-free season on shore immediately adjacent to water and tadpoles are found primarily in near-shore shallows (Camp, 1917;Zweifel, 1955). Third, frogs are highly aquatic and spend little or no time in terrestrial habitats (Matthews and Pope 1999). And fourth, tadpoles are present throughout the summer (and during all other seasons) due to the 2-3 year duration of this life stage in R. muscosa (Zweifel, 1955;Vredenburg et al, 2005).…”

Nowhere to hide: impact of a temperature-sensitive amphibian pathogen along an elevation gradient in the temperate zone

“…As an example of the former, mountain yellow-legged frogs overwinter underwater where they are known to aggregate in crevices (Matthews and Pope 1999). The resulting close proximity between frogs throughout the 7-8 month winter period may increase zoospore transmission rates ) and suggests a possible mechanism by which Bd infection intensities could stay relatively constant between summer and winter despite much slower Bd growth rates in the 48C temperatures typical of winter conditions.…”

Postbreeding Movement and Habitat Use of the Plateau Brown Frog, Rana kukunoris, in a High-Elevation Wetland

“…These habitats are often spatially separate from the breeding or foraging habitats used by a species. Before the onset of winter, Rana muscosa moved to areas of flowing or deep water that did not freeze (Matthews and Pope, 1999). Lithobates clamitans made movements during autumn to areas of flowing water in steams and seeps to overwinter (Lamoureux and Madison, 1999) and Rana luteiventris moved to sites that provided thermal buffering (Bull and Hayes, 2001).…”

“…In some circumstances, these resources may be located in the same habitat patch, and anurans need not consume energy resources to migrate (Pilliod et al, 2002). For many temperate anurans, however, some or all of those resources are spatially separated, thereby requiring seasonal migrations among different habitat patches (Sinsch, 1988;Pilliod et al, 2002;Muths, 2003), in particular for the use of resources that are critical to the survival of an animal and can only be found in specific habitat patches, such as overwintering sites at high altitudes or latitudes (Dunning et al, 1992;Matthews and Pope, 1999;Pilliod et al, 2002). Microhabitats such as vegetation or mammal burrows with proper temperature and relative humidity are important in harsh environments to allow amphibians to maintain suitable body temperatures and prevent predation during their terrestrial movements (Spieler and Linsenmair, 1998;Trenham, 2001;Johnson et al, 2008).…”