Effects of even-aged timber harvest on stream salamanders: Support for the evacuation hypothesis

Peterman, William E.; Crawford, John A.; Semlitsch, Raymond D.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.08.030

Cited by 36 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…We also stress that sampling method can influence conclusions; for instance, finding more salamanders in pitfall traps in a given area may not truly reflect higher abundance. Instead, it may indicate that salamanders are attempting to evacuate or disperse from an area to escape poor habitat conditions (Semlitsch et al , Peterman et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescribed fire and timber harvest effects on terrestrial salamander abundance, detectability, and microhabitat use

2015

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Prescribed fire and timber harvest are anthropogenic disturbances that modify resource availability and ecosystem structure, and can affect wildlife both directly and indirectly. Terrestrial salamanders are effective indicators of forest health due to their high abundance and sensitivity to microclimatic conditions. Given their ecological importance, it is critical to understand how forest salamanders respond to management‐related disturbances. We predicted that timber harvest and prescribed fire would decrease salamander abundance and availability, and increase salamander cover object use. We surveyed for southern red‐backed salamanders (Plethodon serratus) over 9 sampling periods from 2010 to 2014 in a Missouri Ozark (USA) forest, and used binomial mixture models to estimate abundance and detectability in a large‐scale Before‐After, Control‐Impact (BACI) experiment. Five replicate 5‐ha units were randomly assigned to each treatment (prescribed burn, shelterwood harvest, midstory herbicide) and control. We compared abundance, surface activity, detectability, and microhabitat use among treatments. Abundance and surface activity decreased post‐treatment in shelterwood, midstory, and burn units. Abundance estimates in midstory and burn units rebounded in the second post‐treatment year but declined further in shelterwood harvest units. Overall, treatments had stronger effects on salamander availability than on actual abundance. We also found a higher proportion of salamanders under cover objects after prescribed fire, further illustrating the importance of accounting for imperfect detectability. Our findings foster a more robust understanding of the mechanisms underlying population‐level responses to management practices, ultimately increasing our ability to manage terrestrial salamanders effectively. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescribed fire and timber harvest effects on terrestrial salamander abundance, detectability, and microhabitat use

2015

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“…The results of Homyack and Haas (2009) suggest that lower adult survival and fecundity, or lower juvenile recruitment, may explain the lack of juveniles in harvested areas. Additionally, Peterman et al (2011) and Semlitsch et al (2008) both reported higher levels of emigration away from harvested forests by resident amphibians. Our study was designed to prevent emigration using enclosures to examine in isolation the degree to which survival is affected by forest harvesting, especially given that terrestrial survival can have the greatest consequences for population persistence in amphibians (Biek et al, 2002;Willson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Effects of timber harvesting on terrestrial survival of pond-breeding amphibians

Todd

Blomquist

Harper

et al. 2014

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tSuccessful forest management for multiple uses requires balancing extractive practices with maintaining biodiversity, among other important goals. Amphibians comprise an important and abundant part of the biodiversity of many forests. Previous studies have documented declines in the abundance and diversity of amphibians in harvested forests. However, only recently have studies begun to elucidate the mechanisms that underlie such declines. Here, we studied the effects of timber harvesting on survival of geographically widespread ambystomatid salamanders in three forest regions of North America. We used terrestrial enclosures in the Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast to compare amphibian survival in unharvested controls, partially harvested stands ($25% canopy reduction), and clearcuts with coarse woody debris either retained or removed. In all regions, patterns of amphibian survival were similar, with both juvenile and adult salamanders generally having significantly lower survival in clearcuts compared with unharvested controls. Survival of juvenile salamanders in partially harvested stands was also low, but adult salamanders survived as well or better in partially harvested stands as in controls. Larger body size in juveniles was significantly correlated with recapture, irrespective of treatment, in both the Northeast and Southeast, but not in the Midwest or for adults in any region. Relatively heavier adults were more likely to be captured again in the Southeast, but relative mass was not correlated with recapture in any other regions or for juveniles. Our results suggest that increased amphibian mortality may contribute to declines of amphibian abundance and richness after forest clearcutting for the regions evaluated here. Although our results indicate that partial harvesting is compatible with survival of adult salamanders, retention of intact forest around breeding ponds would benefit all terrestrial stages of pond-breeding salamanders and represents a best management practice for the maintenance of amphibian biodiversity.

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“…Some amphibians will emigrate from recently harvested forest stands ( i.e., evacuation hypothesis; [23], [53]). Thus, lower abundance estimates for our 1–5 year-old stands could reflect behavioral avoidance of salamanders to clearcuts, regardless of the local availability of structural retention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing Population Patterns to Processes: Abundance and Survival of a Forest Salamander following Habitat Degradation

2014

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Habitat degradation resulting from anthropogenic activities poses immediate and prolonged threats to biodiversity, particularly among declining amphibians. Many studies infer amphibian response to habitat degradation by correlating patterns in species occupancy or abundance with environmental effects, often without regard to the demographic processes underlying these patterns. We evaluated how retention of vertical green trees (CANOPY) and coarse woody debris (CWD) influenced terrestrial salamander abundance and apparent survival in recently clearcut forests. Estimated abundance of unmarked salamanders was positively related to CANOPY ( Canopy = 0.21 (0.02–1.19; 95% CI), but not CWD ( CWD = 0.11 (−0.13–0.35) within 3,600 m2 sites, whereas estimated abundance of unmarked salamanders was not related to CANOPY ( Canopy = −0.01 (−0.21–0.18) or CWD ( CWD = −0.02 (−0.23–0.19) for 9 m2 enclosures. In contrast, apparent survival of marked salamanders within our enclosures over 1 month was positively influenced by both CANOPY and CWD retention ( Canopy = 0.73 (0.27–1.19; 95% CI) and CWD = 1.01 (0.53–1.50). Our results indicate that environmental correlates to abundance are scale dependent reflecting habitat selection processes and organism movements after a habitat disturbance event. Our study also provides a cautionary example of how scientific inference is conditional on the response variable(s), and scale(s) of measure chosen by the investigator, which can have important implications for species conservation and management. Our research highlights the need for joint evaluation of population state variables, such as abundance, and population-level process, such as survival, when assessing anthropogenic impacts on forest biodiversity.

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Effects of even-aged timber harvest on stream salamanders: Support for the evacuation hypothesis

Cited by 36 publications

References 54 publications

Prescribed fire and timber harvest effects on terrestrial salamander abundance, detectability, and microhabitat use

Prescribed fire and timber harvest effects on terrestrial salamander abundance, detectability, and microhabitat use

Effects of timber harvesting on terrestrial survival of pond-breeding amphibians

Comparing Population Patterns to Processes: Abundance and Survival of a Forest Salamander following Habitat Degradation

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