Ecogeography of the herpetofauna of a northern California watershed: linking species patterns to landscape processes

Welsh, Hartwell H.; Hodgson, Garth R.; Lind, Amy J.

doi:10.1111/j.0906-7590.2005.04024.x

Cited by 38 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Increased moisture and lower more stable temperatures are associated with advancing succession in multiple forest ecosystems (Brosofske et al 1997, Chen et al 1999, Zheng et al 2000, Welsh et al 2005, Brooks and KykerSnowman 2008. This commonality in the successional process in multiple forest ecosystems would suggest that this relationship exemplifies an abiotic and biotic union, derived evolutionarily, linking late-seral forests and much of their unique constituent biota (i.e., coevolution).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Woodland salamanders as metrics of forest ecosystem recovery: a case study from California's redwoods

Welsh

Hodgson

2013

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Woodland (Plethodontid) salamanders occur in huge numbers in healthy forests in North America where the abundances of many species vary along successional gradients. Their high numbers and trophic role as predators on shredder and decomposer arthropods influence nutrient and carbon pathways at the leaf litter/soil interface. Their extreme niche conservatism and low vagility offer further advantages to the use of these salamanders as metrics of forest ecosystem condition. Mill Creek is a 103 km 2 commercially logged redwood forest watershed acquired as parkland where original primary forest is being restored. This study evaluated woodland salamanders as metrics of seral recovery at Mill Creek. Surface counts and body condition were examined in four sets of stands, two early seral, one mature, and one of primary forest (never harvested old-growth). Later seral sites were closer to the coast where fog increased available moisture; younger sites were further inland at higher elevations where fog was reduced. We distinguished the effects of geography and succession using ANCOVA with a PCA-derived landscape covariate. Both geography and succession increased counts of California Slender Salamanders (Batrachoseps attenuatus); advancing succession alone indicated increased counts of Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii ). Means and variances in body condition of these two species were lower in older stands; for the Del Norte salamander (Plethodon elongatus) only the means were lower. Coastal proximity increased mean body condition in E. eschscholtzii, but with P. elongatus it was the opposite. We modeled surface counts and body condition along environmental gradients associated with succession. The counts and body condition in two of three species when taken together suggested that the increased structural complexity in late-seral forest stands supported larger populations that appeared to be competing for limited resources and, thus, likely have greater population fitness than those in younger forests. B. attenuatus and E. eschscholtzii proved to be viable metrics of advancing succession with their numbers and body condition providing readily quantifiable measures of ecosystem recovery at Mill Creek.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Woodland salamanders as metrics of forest ecosystem recovery: a case study from California's redwoods

Welsh

Hodgson

2013

Ecosphere

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“…Stream salamanders such as Desmognathus spp. are thought to be good indicators of riparian and instream habitat quality (Welsh and Ollivier, 1998;Welsh et al, 2005). A small validation study (N = 10) of this approach showed positive correlations between stream salamander abundance and the Habitat FCI score (Noble et al, 2014).…”

Section: In 2010 the Us Army Corps Of Engineers Developed The Operamentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of a Stream and Riparian Habitat Assessment Protocol Using Stream Salamanders in the Southwest Virginia Coalfields

Sweeten¹,

Ford²

2016

JASMR

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Within the central Appalachia Coalfields, the aquatic impacts of largescale land uses, such as surface mining, are of particular ecological concern. Identification and quantification of land use impacts to aquatic ecosystems are a necessary first step to aid in mitigation of negative consequences to biota. However, quantifying physical environmental quality such as stream and riparian habitat often can be quite difficult, particularly when there is time or fiscal limitations. As such, standard protocols such as the U.S. EPA's Stream Habitat Rapid Bioassessment Protocol have been established to be cost-and time-effective. This protocol estimates ten different stream and riparian conditions on a scale of 0 to 20. Unfortunately, using estimations can be problematic because of large potential variation in the scoring depending on differences in training, experience, and opinion of the personnel doing the estimations. In order to help negate these biases and provide a simplified process, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) developed a functional assessment for streams that measures 11 stream and riparian variables along with watershed land use to calculate three different scores, a hydrology score, biogeochemical score, and habitat score. In our study, we examined the correlation of stream salamander presence and abundance to the three USACE scores. In the summer of 2013, we visited 70 sites in the southwest Virginia Coalfields multiple times to collect salamanders and quantify stream and riparian microhabitat parameters. Using occupancy and abundance analyses, we found strong relationships among three Desmognathus spp. and the USACE Habitat FCI score. Accordingly, the Habitat FCI score provides a reasonable assessment of physical instream and riparian conditions that may serve as a surrogate for understanding the community composition and integrity of aquatic salamander in the region.

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“…Brooks were often reduced to pools in summertime; they were crowded of amphibian life and sheltered also the three protected species against summer aridity stress. The presence of perennial streams and wetlands is recognized as an important factor for the conservation of semi-aquatic herpetofauna, especially in the arid climate of the Mediterranean area (Ficetola et al, 2004;Welsh et al, 2005), whereas inundated land is an ephemeral habitat of great value for breeding amphibian species (Helmer and Scholte, 1985;Bousbouras and Ioannidis, 1997;Brodman et al, 2003). Semi-open or open thermophilous habitats with a well developed undergrowth of low bushes such as oakwoods and heaths were the most important sites for the conservation of terrestrial herpetofauna.…”

Section: Diversity Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity, ecological structure and conservation of herpetofauna in a Mediterranean area (Dadia National Park, Greece)

et al. 2007

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The current study attempts to explore the diversity patterns and the ecological structure of herpetofauna in order to provide a guideline for its conservation management, taking as case study the Dadia national park, in Greece. We surveyed 36 sites by conducting time constraint visits and random transects to sample semi-aquatic (amphibians and freshwater terrapins) and terrestrial (lizards and terrestrial tortoises) herpetofauna respectively. We recorded 20 herpetofauna taxa, including five protected species. The park authorities should maintain brooks as a high priority habitat for semi-aquatic herpetofauna, periodically flooded land and lowland streams as important habitats, and to a lesser degree anthropogenic wet habitats. Semi-aquatic species have narrow habitat requirements related to substrate type and humidity. Terrestrial herpetofauna species are influenced by the degree of shade and the type of substrate; they favour a diversity of semi-open habitats (open oakwoods, heaths), located in the buffer zone rather than in the core of the park that contains densely forested habitats. Management focusing on raptors, the initial conservation priority of the national park, is compatible with the conservation of the terrestrial herpetofauna, as the proposed maintenance of an open forest structure is beneficial for terrestrial herpetofauna as well. Our research indicates that future management programs will have to address the needs of herpetofauna species independently and that they should also be integrated in the monitoring programme of the park, with emphasis on the conservation status and trend of the five protected species.

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Ecogeography of the herpetofauna of a northern California watershed: linking species patterns to landscape processes

Cited by 38 publications

References 67 publications

Woodland salamanders as metrics of forest ecosystem recovery: a case study from California's redwoods

Woodland salamanders as metrics of forest ecosystem recovery: a case study from California's redwoods

Validation of a Stream and Riparian Habitat Assessment Protocol Using Stream Salamanders in the Southwest Virginia Coalfields

Diversity, ecological structure and conservation of herpetofauna in a Mediterranean area (Dadia National Park, Greece)

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