Species Status Assessment for the Puget Oregonian (Cryptomastix Devia)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
December 2019 Species Status Assessment for the Puget Oregonian (Cryptomastix devia) Department of the Interior United States Fish and Wildlife Service Washington State Field Office 510 Desmond Drive SE, Suite 102 Lacey, Washington 98503 360-753-9440 Acknowledgements Many many thanks to all of those who took the time to introduce us to the amazing world of terrestrial gastropods, including those of you that took us to see the species, the individuals we never met that raked the litter to report their occurrence, the authors that took the time to research and describe gastropods in reports and literature, the data stewards and managers keeping everything in order, and all of you who took time to review and greatly improve this document. Without all of your wonder, knowledge, and understanding of the world around us would be diminished for the rest of us. Special thanks to: Elise Brown, Thomas Burke, Jeff Chan, Jeff Dillion James Donahey, John Fisher, Sarah Foltz Jordan, Alex Foster, Vince Harke, Paul Hendricks, Robert Huff, John Jakubowski, Edward Johannes, Tom Kogut, William Leonard, Tom McDowell, Rebecca Migala, Christine Pyle, Joanne Stellini, Kelli Van Norman Author Contact Information An Markus Le [email protected] 360-753-7767 F. Teal Waterstrat [email protected] 360-753-7760 United States Fish and Wildlife Service Washington Fish and Wildlife Office 510 Desmond Drive SE, Suite 102 Lacey, Washington 98503 360-753-9440 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY If we and the rest of the backboned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if they were to disappear, the land's ecosystems would collapse …These small creatures are within a few inches of our feet, wherever we go on land - but often, they're disregarded. We would do very well to remember them. – David Attenborough, 2005 Life in the Undergrowth This document is the Species Status Assessment (SSA) for the Puget Oregonian (Crytpomastix devia) as of 2019, completed to characterize the species’ overall viability by using the three conservation biology principles of resiliency, redundancy and representation. We identify the species’ ecological requirements for survival and reproduction at the individual, population, and species levels, and describe risk factors influencing the species’ current and future condition. The Puget Oregonian is a terrestrial snail that inhabits moist, conifer-forest habitats that include some level of deciduous tree community composition. It is strongly associated with bigleaf maple trees (Acer macrophyllum). The species is most commonly located in bigleaf maple dominant stands, or mixed maples stands growing among conifers usually Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and western red cedar (Thuja plicata), or in mixed groves of maples and other hardwoods such as black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and red alder (Alnus rubra). The Puget Oregonian is most commonly found along stream and river terraces and usually absent from riparian zones prone to regular or occasional flooding. This species is often found on or under hardwood logs or other woody material, leaf litter, or under the lowest fronds of western swordfern (Polystichum munitum) that are growing near or under the maple crowns. Habitat on flat or gentle slopes are more suitable habitat than steeper slopes, perhaps because they offer more stable environments. Large diameter, older bigleaf maples provide a deep leaf litter layer and are highly suitable habitat for this species, although they may also be found under smaller diameter maples, particularly when they occur in patches or are frequently interspersed within upland conifer stands. All Cryptomastix snails are native to the Pacific Northwest (PNW). The range of the Puget Oregonian formerly included southern British Columbia. Currently they are found in the Cascade Range and Puget Trough through the Columbia Gorge south into the foothills of the Willamette Valley. It is currently recognized as extirpated from British Columbia. The vast majority of occurrence records for this species occur in the Cispus River watershed administered by the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Cowlitz Ranger District. Since 2014, Miles - - several locations with known occurrences were Species Range 0 40 80 160 Habitat Suitability resurveyed for Puget Oregonian with success, however, Unsuitable no new locations or range expansions have been reported. • suitable □ State Boundaries • Species Occurrence Records Current Condition: 2 During the development of this SSA we identified 74 resiliency units. The current condition of the Puget Oregonian is characterized by 10 highly resilient units, two moderately resilient units, three units with low resiliency, and 59 units with unknown resiliency (Figure 1). Redundancy appears adequate for this species, as the known units are well distributed throughout the range. D Sub-Basin (HUC 8) with Resiliency Units of Known Condition Miles -c:::::==--===----• D Sub-Basin (HUC 8) within Range 0 25 50 100 D State Boundaries Resiliency Unit Condition high moderate low unknown Habitat Suitability - Unsuitable - Suitable Figure 1: Contemporary distribution of the Puget Oregonian inlcuding resiliency and represenative areas. Furthermore, the 74 resiliency units are distributed across 23 representative areas throughout the range of the species, and the 10 highly resilient resiliency units are distributed across four different representative areas, perhaps indicating adaptive capacity within the species. Nonetheless, it is important to consider the high level 3 of uncertainty surrounding the demography and distribution of this species. There is still much to learn about this species and our assessment of its current condition is based on a number of assumptions based on general Pulmonate snail biology and related PNW terrestrial gastropods. Table 1: Current resiliency condition of 15 of 74 resiliency units. Temporal Potential surrounding Number of Habitat Resiliency Resiliency Unit Name relevance of habitat connectivity occurrences Quality level* occurrence and quality High Middle Columbia-Hood-4 Contemporary Rare High Connectivity High Suitability High Middle Columbia-Hood-7 Contemporary Rare Moderate Connectivity Moderate Suitability High Puget Sound-1 Contemporary Rare High Connectivity High Suitability Puget Sound-6 Contemporary Rare Not Suitable Isolated Low High Snoqualmie-1 Contemporary Rare Moderate Connectivity Moderate Suitability Snoqualmie-2 Mid-Century Rare Suitable Moderate Connectivity Low High Upper Cowlitz-2 Contemporary Common Moderate Connectivity High Suitability High Upper Cowlitz-3 Contemporary Common High Connectivity High Suitability Low Upper Cowlitz-5 Contemporary Rare Low Connectivity Low Suitability High Upper Cowlitz-6 Contemporary Common High Connectivity High Suitability High Upper Cowlitz-7 Contemporary Common High Connectivity High Suitability High Upper Cowlitz-11 Contemporary Rare High Connectivity High Suitability High Upper Cowlitz-13 Contemporary Rare High Connectivity High Suitability High Upper Cowlitz-15 Contemporary Rare High Connectivity High Suitability High Upper Cowlitz-16 Contemporary Rare High Connectivity High Suitability *There are 59 additional identified and mapped resiliency units for this species which the Service was unable to determine a current resiliency condition at this time due to the limited available information (Appendix III). Future Condition The SSA process for the Puget Oregonian was limited in its ability to assess the current viability of the species across its range. The Upper Cowlitz sub-basin contains the majority of observational and biological information on the species, making it the basis for most of our assumptions about the species’ viability. Based upon available survey data from the Upper Cowlitz sub-basin, we understand the species to be fairly common and well distributed within suitable habitat within the sub-basin. Outside of this sub-basin, species records are relatively rare, limiting our ability to more comprehensively analyze the resiliency, redundancy, and representation of the species across its range. However, we were generally able to identify habitat characteristics known to be important to the species. These habitat characteristics include bigleaf maple stands or mixed bigleaf maple stands and microhabitat features such as large woody debris, swordferns, and leaf litter that contribute to moist and cool conditions on the forest floor. To assess future conditions of the species out to the middle of the century, we considered the effects of climate change on the species’ modeled habitat requirements. We also considered other relevant risk factors, including 4 human population growth in the PNW, forest management, and disease. We identified four future scenarios, one which anticipates no change from current condition, and three scenarios which anticipate various levels of decline in habitat conditions. Similar to the assessment of current condition, we did not have enough information to assess the future condition of the additional 59 resiliency units. There is a wide range of possibilities for the future of the 15 resiliency units for which we did have sufficient information. For example, at this time we are unable to assess the potential severity and extent of maple die-off disease in the future. We expect the resources of the species to diminish in quantity and quality as stressors increase in the future. Overall, we expect the viability of the species to decline under