Changes in Frog and Toad Populations Over 30 Years in New York State

Gibbs, James P.; Whiteleather, K. Kristian; Schueler, Frederick W.

doi:10.1890/03-5408

Cited by 95 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…We found no long-term effects of timber harvesting or post-harvest silviculture on numbers of American toads 20 to 50 years after logging, suggesting that observed effects on species composition and stand structure were insufficient to affect this species. That American toads were common in these forests was in contrast to other studies suggesting that the toads prefer non-forest areas or deciduous stands (DeGraaf and Rudis 1990, Guerry and Hunter 2002, Gibbs et al 2005. For wood frogs, we cannot relate the low numbers in young basic 1 and basic 2 stands, compared to most other stand types, to any of the variables that we measured.…”

Section: Amphibianscontrasting

confidence: 87%

Effects of post-harvest silviculture on use of boreal forest stands by amphibians and marten in Ontario

Thompson¹,

Baker²,

Jastrebski³

et al. 2008

The Forestry Chronicle

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Much of the southern boreal forest is composed of second-growth stands that have been subjected to a variety of silvicultural treatments ranging from cut and leave to scarification, planting, and tending with herbicides. We have limited understanding of the effects that these treatments may have on wildlife species, as a result of changes to forest structures and species composition. Forest amphibians, generally, and the American marten (Martes americana) are species for which there has been long-standing concern about the effects of forest management. We examined the long-term effects at stand and landscape scales of a range of silviculture intensities on these species by comparing the relative abundances of some amphibians and habitat use by marten in forests that were about 32 to 50 years old. American toads (Bufo americanus) appeared to be unaffected by long-term changes in habitat structure and composition owing to silvicultural techniques. We observed lower relative abundance of wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) in treated stands 20 to 30 years old than in all other stands including uncut old forests. However, abundance in treated stands more than 32 years old did not differ from untreated or uncut stands. This effect may have resulted from lower moisture levels in treated young stands. Marten seemed to positively respond to post-harvest planting and tending treatments, suggesting that basic silviculture provided habitat attributes, notably a higher conifer content, which was favourable to marten.Key words: post-harvest silviculture, marten, wood frog, American toad, herbicide, boreal, woody debris, Ontario RÉSUMÉLa majeure partie du sud de la forêt boréale est composée de peuplements de seconde venue qui ont connu plusieurs traitements sylvicoles allant de la coupe à blanc au scarifiage, suivi de plantation et entretien au moyen d'herbicides. Nous comprenons en partie les effets que ces traitements pourraient entraîner sur les espèces fauniques, suite à des modifications de la structure et de la composition des peuplements. Les amphibiens du milieu forestier, de façon générale, et la martre d' Amérique (Martes americana) constituent des espèces pour lesquelles des études ont été entreprises depuis longtemps sur les effets de l'aménagement forestier. Nous avons étudié les effets à long terme au niveau du peuplement et de l' écosystème de l'intensité des travaux sylvicoles sur ces espèces en comparant l'abondance relative de certains amphibiens et de l'habitat utilisé par la martre dans des peuplements âgés de 32 à 50 ans. Le crapaud d' Amérique (Bufo americanus) a semblé ne pas être affecté par les changements à long terme de la structure et de la composition de l'habitat suite aux travaux sylvicoles. Nous avons observé une abondance relative plus faible chez la grenouille des bois dans les peuplements traités de 20 à 30 ans par rapport aux autres peuplements incluant les vieilles forêts non exploitées. Cependant, l'abondance dans les peuplements de plus de 32 ans n' était pas différente de celle des peu...

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Section: Amphibianscontrasting

confidence: 87%

Effects of post-harvest silviculture on use of boreal forest stands by amphibians and marten in Ontario

Thompson¹,

Baker²,

Jastrebski³

et al. 2008

The Forestry Chronicle

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“…We calculated the percentage of land devoted to each land use class for areas of radii 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 km around each survey site. land use variables on a larger scale may be correlated with frog landscape ecology (e.g., Gibbs et al 2005), but in this case, a larger radius would result in some areas extending across the Ottawa river into adjacent Quebec, which did not seem ecologically meaningful. land use data from sites in eastern Ottawa were compared with known Boreal Chorus Frog sites in western Maximum combined nitrate and nitrite level in surface water was 6.6 mg/l in eastern Ottawa and 6.2 mg/l in western Ottawa.…”

Section: Study Area and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…it was once considered common southeast of Montréal (Bleakney 1959), but now appears completely absent from that area (Daigle 1997) and is extremely rare in Quebec (Desroches and rodrigue 2004;COSEWiC 2008*). it has also become less widespread in areas of northern new York state (Gibbs et al 2005;Corser et al 2012) and eastern Ontario near Cornwall (Seburn et al 2008) and appears to have been extirpated from vermont (Andrews 2013). largely as a result of declines in Quebec, the Great lakes/St.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The cause (or causes) of the declines remains unknown. Although wetland destruction is a major threat in some areas of Quebec (Daigle 1997 Picard and Desroches 2004*), populations have also been lost in areas where wetlands remain (Gibbs et al 2005, Seburn et al 2008, Seburn and Gunson 2011. The Boreal Chorus Frog is known to have been widespread east of urban Ottawa during the late 1950s and early 1960s, although precise locations are mainly lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Apparent widespread decline of the Boreal Chorus Frog (<em>Pseudacris maculata</em>) in eastern Ottawa

Seburn

Gunson²,

Schueler³

2014

Can Field Nat

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The Boreal Chorus Frog (Pseudacris maculata) was once common in the eastern Ottawa area. To assess its current status, we conducted auditory surveys at 184 wetlands in 2011 and 2012. Boreal Chorus Frogs were heard at only five (2.7%) of the surveyed sites. These five sites were spatially aggregated, with only 0.5-7.5 km between any two sites. Sites occupied by Boreal Chorus Frogs in eastern Ottawa were surrounded by significantly greater agricultural cover (at 1.0-, 1.5-, and 2.0-km radii), less forest cover (1.0-and 2.0-km radii), and less wetland cover (1.5-and 2.0-km radii) than occupied sites in western Ottawa. Sites in eastern Ottawa that were apparently unoccupied were surrounded by significantly greater agricultural cover (only at the 2.0-km radius), similar forest cover (all radii), and less wetland cover (all radii) compared with occupied sites in western Ottawa. Boreal Chorus Frog populations are commonly subject to extirpation resulting from stochastic events. The reduced wetland cover in eastern Ottawa may be accompanied by reduced wetland connectivity, making recolonization of wetlands difficult or impossible. Our data do not show whether wetland connectivity has been reduced, but future research should address this important topic.

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“…Conclusions: 265 Wood frogs and green frogs are expected to exist at different points along a suburbanization 266 gradient, with wood frogs at the lower end (Gibbs 1998, Gibbs et al 2005 and green frogs at the 267 higher end (Skelly et al 2006(Skelly et al , 2010. LLC data support this with forest and lawn covers being …”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Suburban frog ponds: mapping local land cover yields different estimates of landscape composition than the National Land Cover Database

Lambert

2014

Preprint

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Suburban neighborhoods are rapidly spreading globally. As such, there is an increasing need to study the environmental and ecological effects of suburbanization. At large spatial extents, from county-level to global, remote sensing-derived land cover data, such as the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD), have yielded insight into patterns of urbanization and concomitant large-scale ecological patterns in response. However, the components of suburban land cover (houses, yards, etc.) are dispersed throughout the landscape at a finer scale than the relatively coarse grain size (30m pixels) of NLCD may be able to detect. Our understanding of ecological processes in heterogeneous landscapes is reliant upon the accuracy and resolution of our measurements as well as the scale at which we measure the landscape. Analyses of ecological processes along suburban gradients are restricted by the currently available data. As ecologists are becoming increasingly interested in describing phenomena at spatial extents as small as individual households, we need higher-resolution landscape measurements. Here, I describe a simple method of translating the components of suburban landscapes into finer-grain, local land cover (LLC) data in GIS. Using both LLC and NLCD, I compare the suburban matrix surrounding ponds occupied by two different frog species. I illustrate large discrepancies in Forest, Yard, and Developed land cover estimates between LLC and NLCD, leading to markedly different interpretations of suburban landscape composition. NLCD, relative to LLC, estimates lower proportions of forest cover and higher proportions of anthropogenic land covers in general. These two land cover datasets provide surprisingly different descriptions of the suburban landscapes, potentially affecting our understanding of how organisms respond to an increasingly suburban world. LLC provides a free and detailed fine-grain depiction of the components of suburban neighborhoods and will allow ecologists to better explore heterogeneous suburban landscapes at multiple spatial scales.

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Changes in Frog and Toad Populations Over 30 Years in New York State

Cited by 95 publications

References 29 publications

Effects of post-harvest silviculture on use of boreal forest stands by amphibians and marten in Ontario

Effects of post-harvest silviculture on use of boreal forest stands by amphibians and marten in Ontario

Apparent widespread decline of the Boreal Chorus Frog (<em>Pseudacris maculata</em>) in eastern Ottawa

Suburban frog ponds: mapping local land cover yields different estimates of landscape composition than the National Land Cover Database

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