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Management of Amphibians, Reptiles, and Small Mammals in North America

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Management of Amphibians, Reptiles, and Small Mammals in North America Abstract.-The status and ecology of Plethodon Forestry Operations and punctatus was investigated in George Washington Terrestrial Salamanders: National Forest, Virginia to determine potential effects of logging. Pitfall traps and mark-recapture Techniques in a Study of the supplemented searching by hand. Elevation, aspect, soil characteristics, and number of cover Cow Knob Salamander, objects (rocks) are the most important features that identify P. puncfatus habitat, Intensive logging Plethodon puncfafusl operations appear to be detrimental to this species. Kurt A. B~hlrnann,~Christopher A. Pag~e,~ Joseph C. Mit~hell,~and Robert 8. Glasgow5 Increasing emphasis is being placed on Shenandoah and North Mountain ton National Forest, Virginia. Before on conservation and preservation of of western Virginia and eastern West its purchase, between 1911 and 1940, biological diversity worldwide Virginia (Highton, 1972, Tobey, by the U.S. government, this area (Norse et al., 1986; Wilson, 1988). 1985). Most of the known range of was repeatedly logged and burned U.S. federal and state agencies have this recently described species (Leichter, 1987; original land deed become concerned about the bio- (Highton, 1972) is in the George documents). Few virgin stands of diversity of their managed lands and Washington National Forest. Fraser forest remain, and regrowth and log- are directing efforts towards preserv- (1976) compared some aspects of the ging operations has resulted in a mo- ing natural biota. From a manage- ecology of this species with a sympa- saic of mixed hardwoods of various ment perspective, research on am- tric congener, Plethodon hoffmani. ages. phibians and reptiles lags behind that Little else is known of the ecology of We selected five sites of different devoted to game animals, such as this salamander. Because of its rela- aged forest to determine the relative some mammals, birds, and fish (Bury tively small range and unknown abundance of Plethodon punctatus (fig, et al., 1980). This is partly due to a status, P. punctatus was added to the 1) to see if its presence was affected previous lack of interest in these U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Cate- by logging. All sites selected had groups, but also because some spe- gory 2 list (U.S. Fish and Wildlife similar aspects (S-SE) and elevation cies can be more difficult to observe Service, 1985). Potential timber har- (914- 1127 m) (table 1). We used or investigate. vesting within the range of this spe- USDA Forest Service compartment The Cow Knob salamander, Ple- cies (USDA Forest Service, 1986) descriptions and maps to aid in se- thodon punctatus, is a dark, moder- prompted us to examine its status in lection of sites and to obtain informa- ately large (to 74 mm snout-vent forest stands of various ages. In this tion on the history, physical and bio- length), woodland, fossorial amphib- paper we report the following as- logical descriptions, and future man- ian (Martof et al., 1982) found only pects of this study: techniques of cap- agement goals for each site. A com- ture and data collection, salamander partment is divided into a series of Paper presented at symposium, Man- agement of Amphibians, Reptiles, and habitat characteristics, and potential stands, each of which defines a for- Small Mammals in North America. [Flag- effects of logging operations. Our ob- ested area of similar tree species by staff, AZ, July 79-2 7, 1988). jective in this paper is to make other composition, age, and stand condi- 2KurtA. Buhlmann is a consulting biolo- researchers aware of the techniques tion. Stand age is defined by the age gist for the US. Forest Service. Buhlmann 's we used and the problems we en- of dominant canopy trees. Final current address is 200 7 N. Main St., Blacksburg, VA 24060. countered in developing useful man- choices of sites were made only after each was checked in the field and 3ChristopherA. Pague is a doctoral can- agement recommendations for the didate in the Ecological Sciences Program, protection of an apparently rare ter- tree age was verified by tree ring Department of Biological Sciences, Old restrial salamander. analysis. Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23508. In each site we erected drift fence 4Joseph C. Mitchell is a Research Biolo- arrays (Campbell and Christman, gist, Department of Biology, University of 1982) consisting of four 60 cm x m Richmond, Richmond, VA 23 773. Materials and Methods 7.5 sections of aluminum flashing ar- 5Roberf B. Glasgow is the Wildlife Biolo- gist for the George Washington National We conducted this study on Shenan- ranged in a cross pattern. Opposite Forest, Harrison Plaza, P.O. Box 233, Harri- doah Mountain, Augusta and Rock- arms of the cross were separated by sonburg, VA 2280 7. ingham Counties, George Washing- 15 m and all sections were sunk in the ground approximately 10 cm. A ies on reproductive cycles and ecol- punctafus and to obtain information 5-gal plastic bucket was placed in the ogy. Pitfalls were checked and all on range and habitat characteristics. center of each arm and #10 cans were captures (including other vertebrates Results from timed collecting periods placed in the ground on either side of and all invertebrates) were collected allowed comparison among sites and the ends of each arm so that the tops weekly May 5 - June 18,1987, bi- dates of collection. Between April 20 of the pitfalls were flush with the weekly July 7 - November 22,1987 and June 2,1987, we collected data ground surface. Sites A and C con- and monthly December 1987 and on eleven microhabitat variables at tained two drift fence arrays, and the January 1988. Samples were sorted in 67 sites to evaluate those most im- remaining three sites had one array the laboratory and the vertebrates portant in predicting the presence of each. In each pitfall we put 4-10 cm stored in 10% neutral buffered for- this salamander. These variables of 10% formal-dehyde solution to in- maldehyde. Invertebrates were were elevation, aspect, slope, soil sure adequate preservation of the stored in 70% isopropanol. temperature under cover object, soil salamanders. We selected this Hand-collecting supplemented moisture, soil pH, soil description, method to obtain samples of all the drift fence collection and was used to canopy cover, number of cover ob- terrestrial fauna for a range of stud- determine the elevational range of P. jects available within a 2 m circle, type of cover object (e.g., rock, log), and forest type. One site >1 km away from any of the collection sites was selected for estimation of population size and data on individual movements. We searched for salamanders in daylight by turning and replacing all surface objects and at night while they were active on the surface (i.e., during conditions of near 100% relative hu- midity [sensu Hea twole, 1960; Jaeger 19781). Each individual was meas- ured (snout-vent length, tail length to nearest mm), weighed (nearest 0.1 g), the sex determined, assigned to adult or juvenile age-classes, marked by toe-clipping, and released at its cap- ture site. We marked each cavture1 Figure 1.-Plethodon puncfatus, the Cow Knob salamander, from Shenandoah Mountain, site with survey flags on which the Augusta County, Virginia. Photograph by Kurt A. Buhlmann. salamander's number and capture date were written. We noted all re- captures and measured movements in linear fashion (0.1 m) between cap- ture points. Results and Discussion Capture Techniques Nineteen P. punctatus were caught in the pitfall traps, 2.0% of the total number of salamanders. Of the 17 recorded, 12 were caught in 5-gal. buckets and 5 in #10 cans. Eleven P. punctatus were caught in Site E, six in Site B, and two Site D. None were caught in Site A or the Site C. In con- trast, by hand collecting in areas ad- jacent to Site E, we found 38 P. punc- tatus in 7.7 man hours of searching. The drift fence method appears only moderately effective in sampling this A salamander. It is feasible that P. punc- MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC tatus is less likely to fall into the pit- falls than other salamander species. Figure 2.-Seasonality of drift fence captures of Plethodon cinereus and P. pu~ctatusaf Site E We observed several individuals (Tomahawk Mountain), George Washington National Forest. Adults and juveniles are in- cluded, but not hatchlings. simpling period is 5 May 1987 to 24 ~anuar~-1988. climbing rocks and tree trunks dur- ing nocturnal surface activity. This suggests that this salamander is able to detect precipices and avoid falling into pitfalls. Also, this species may be active on the horizontal surface only for limited periods of time and under specific environmental conditions. Thus, the drift fence technique, which depends on horizontal activ- ity, may not be an effective sampling method for this salamander (R.D. Semlitsch, pers. comm.). Data from pitfall traps, combined with data from hand collecting, can provide information for management decisions. For instance, seasonal trends in surface activity were simi- larly indicated by both drift fence re- sults (fig. 2) and captures based on hand collection (fig. 3). Comparison of P. punctatus with that of its sympa- tric congener P. cinereus (fig. 3) re- veals concordance in seasonal activ- ity and suggests similar responses to surface environmental conditions. Tomahawk Mountain, George Washington National Forest. Black bars represent P. punctatus This information could be used to and bars with diagonal lines represent P. cinereus. Sampling dates are 22 April to 22 Novem- determine the times logging opera- ber 1987. tions would cause the least impact on ion, 1986; Bury and Corn, 1987). Our four recaptures were made.
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