Species Status Assessment for the Striped Newt (Notophthalmus perstriatus) Version 1.0 Striped newt eft. Photo credit Ryan Means (used with permission). May 2018 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 4 Jacksonville, Florida 1 Acknowledgements This document was prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s North Florida Field Office with assistance from the Georgia Field Office, and the striped newt Species Status Assessment Team (Sabrina West (USFWS-Region 8), Kaye London (USFWS-Region 4) Christopher Coppola (USFWS-Region 4), and Lourdes Mena (USFWS-Region 4)). Additionally, valuable peer reviews of a draft of this document were provided by Lora Smith (Jones Ecological Research Center) , Dirk Stevenson (Altamaha Consulting), Dr. Eric Hoffman (University of Central Florida), Dr. Susan Walls (USGS), and other partners, including members of the Striped Newt Working Group. We appreciate their comments, which resulted in a more robust status assessment and final report. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Species Status Assessment (SSA) is an in-depth review of the striped newt's (Notophthalmus perstriatus) biology and threats, an evaluation of its biological status, and an assessment of the resources and conditions needed to maintain species viability. We begin the SSA with an understanding of the species’ unique life history, and from that we evaluate the biological requirements of individuals, populations, and species using the principles of population resiliency, species redundancy, and species representation. All three concepts (or analogous ones) apply at both the population and species levels, and are explained that way below for simplicity and clarity as we introduce them. The striped newt is a small salamander that uses ephemeral wetlands and the upland habitat (scrub, mesic flatwoods, and sandhills) that surrounds those wetlands. The striped newt currently extends from southern Georgia to north-central Florida. Striped newts have been divided in two regions which have been identified as having ecological differentiation due to precipitation and temperature differences. The species has been a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), since the 12-month finding published in 2011 (USFWS 2011). The striped newt is one of three distinct Notophthalmus species found in North America. Striped newts are a distinct species that is more similar to and phylogenetically more closely related to the blackspotted newt (N. meridionalis) than it is to the eastern red spotted newt (N. viridescens). Striped newts have a lifespan of 12–15 years (Dodd Jr. 1993; de Magalhaes and Costa, 2009) and use aquatic and terrestrial habitats during their complex life cycle. Although they have been known to live up to 17–18 years in captivity (Wallace et al. 2009, pp. 138–139; Mark Beshel, 2018, pers. comm.) we based our analysis on the known life span from studies in the field (Dodd Jr. 1993). During the fall/winter and spring seasons and after rain events, striped newt adults migrate to isolated ephemeral wetlands that lack large predatory fish. Striped newts mate and the female deposits eggs into aquatic vegetation, and when the larvae reach maturity, they metamorphose into a gilled aquatic adult (paedomorph) that will remain in the aquatic phase or metamorphose into an immature terrestrial adult (eft). These terrestrial adults will ultimately move to the nearby uplands. Striped newts are currently represented throughout their historical range. They were identified in 2 79 breeding ponds between 1980 and 1999 and are currently identified as extant in 116 breeding ponds (Table 2). Striped newts have been identified as possibly extirpated from 57 breeding ponds and extirpated from 17 (Farmer et al. 2017). In order to maintain viability, the species should be represented by populations distributed across its range and in a variety of habitats so that there are always some populations experiencing environmental conditions that support some level of reproductive success. Currently, there are 10 known extant populations of striped newts in the Western Region and 106 in the Eastern Region of the species. Since the early 2000s, the distribution and abundance of striped newts have not significantly changed; the spatial extent of their distribution is 95% of its historical extent. In Florida, an extensive survey effort that targeted potential suitable habitat for the species identified a large number of previously unknown breeding ponds. In Georgia, the species is still known from 5 locations with a total of 11 breeding ponds believed to be extant. Although we do not know the status of each individual population that is using each breeding pond, analyzing the current grid of occurrences suggest that populations are persisting, especially where metapopulations (multiple breeding ponds within 1 kilometer (km) of each other) occur. The extent to which stressors are impacting the species abundance is unknown, but it is likely that back to back long- term droughts would negatively impact their abundance. Long-term drought, development, and land use changes have been historically identified as the primary causes of population loss for the striped newt. During long-term dry conditions, striped newts lose breeding habitat and their populations decline; however, studies have shown that they are able to bounce back after prolonged droughts (Dodd and Johnson 2007). Local extirpations are one of the possible outcomes of a long-term drought, as well as migration to the uplands until better breeding habitat conditions occur or they can migrate to other temporary wetlands nearby to breed (Dodd Jr. 1993). Habitat loss due to land use changes and development is another stressor that continues to impact the species across its range. Although approximately 85% of striped newt populations are protected in conservation lands, some of the remaining populations are in private lands without any conservation. Fire suppression of the occupied habitat is also identified as a stressor of concern for the species. Lack of fire can result in the succession of natural pine forests and scrub into forests dominated by hardwoods and closed canopies with less vegetative ground cover. There is a high degree of uncertainty on how fire suppression is impacting striped newt. We developed three future risk scenarios: 1) Conditions stay the same as currently with improvements in translocation efforts across the range of the species, low levels of climate change, and improved management on conserved lands; 2) impacts from stressors continue current trends and conservation actions continue only at Apalachicola National Forest (ANF); and 3) the effects from land use change, climate change, and fire suppression increase while repatriation efforts decrease. We focused our analysis on a 40–50 year timeframe. Our analyses indicate that the resiliency, representation, and redundancy of the striped newt have not changed in the last 30 years. Historically, striped newts were identified in fifty-six breeding ponds (populations) in Florida and five locations in Georgia (USFWS 2011). Abundance of newts in each population is unknown and presence of newts in a breeding pond is what is used to 3 determine if a population is extant. Current populations are spread across the species' range and varying environmental conditions. Due to the large number of populations within the two ecoregions, the risk of losing large numbers of populations and thus species representation in one of the regions due to catastrophic events is unlikely. We have determined that the habitat and population loss attributable to development and sea level rise is not likely to significantly reduce existing populations of striped newt. The vast majority of known populations of striped newt occupy conservation lands that are managed at varying degrees with prescribed fire as a management tool. Habitat loss and sea level rise will very likely impact less than 25% of the currently known suitable striped newt habitat and less than 10 of the known populations. We have moderate to low confidence in the known current condition of populations across the range, but predictions under the different scenarios show that all but five of the properties with extant populations will likely be extirpated in scenario 3; two in the Western Region and three in the Eastern Region. The species has populations distributed across all of its historical range with a lower representation in the Western Region of the species but with more breeding ponds being identified and repatriation efforts underway at ANF, Florida. Drought is expected to play a significant role as a stressor for this species but we are unclear how the species will adapt to the prolonged droughts or how resilient it is. Habitat development and sea level rise projections for the next 43 years will inundate one of the populations at Guana River WMA and may impacts a few others with salt intrusion. We have a low confidence in the likelihood of how many populations of striped newt are predicted to be extirpated in the future, but the current development and sea level rise projections only identify two possible populations that could be extirpated. 4 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2 – INDIVIDUAL NEEDS: LIFE HISTORY AND BIOLOGY ........................ 10 2.1 Description .........................................................................................................................