Monitoring Amphibians in Great Smoky Mountains National Park By C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr. — Abstract — a national amphibian monitoring program on Federal lands, to develop the sampling techniques and bio- Amphibian species have inexplicably declined metrical analyses necessary to determine status and or disappeared in many regions of the world, and in trends, and to identify possible causes of amphibian some instances, serious malformations have been declines and malformations. observed. In the United States, amphibian declines The biological importance of Great Smoky frequently have occurred even in protected areas. Mountains National Park has been recognized by its Causes for the declines and malformations probably designation as an International Biosphere Reserve. are varied and may not even be related. The seem- As such, it is clearly the leading region of signifi- ingly sudden declines in widely separated areas, how- cance for amphibian research. Although no other ever, suggests a need to monitor amphibian region shares the wealth of amphibians as found in populations as well as identify the causes when the Great Smokies (31 species of salamanders, and declines or malformations are discovered. 13 of frogs), the entire southern and mid-section of In 2000, the President of the United States and the Appalachian Mountain chain is characterized by Congress directed Department of the Interior (DOI) a high diversity of amphibians, and inventories and agencies to develop a plan to monitor the trends in monitoring protocols developed in the Smokies likely amphibian populations on DOI lands and to conduct will be applicable to other Appalachian National Park research into possible causes of declines. The DOI Service properties. has stewardship responsibilities over vast land hold- From 1998 to 2001, USGS biologists carried ings in the United States, much of it occupied by, or out a pilot inventory and monitoring research project potential habitat for, amphibians. The U.S. Geologi- in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A variety cal Survey (USGS) was given lead responsibility for of inventory, sampling, and monitoring techniques planning and organizing this program, named the were employed and tested. These included wide-scale Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative visual encounter surveys of amphibians at terrestrial (ARMI). Authorization carried the mandate to set up and aquatic sites, intensive monitoring of selected 1 plots, randomly placed small-grid plot sam- critique of what the results tell the observer, and pling, litterbag sampling in streams, monitoring a discussion of the limitations of the techniques nesting females of selected species, call sur- and the data. The report reviews considerations veys, and monitoring specialized habitats, such for site selection, outlines steps for biosecurity as caves. Coupled with information derived and for processing diseased or dying animals, from amphibian surveys on Federal lands using and provides resource managers with a decision various other techniques (automated frog call tree on how to monitor the Park’s amphibians data loggers, PVC pipes, drift fences, terrestrial based on different levels of available resources. and aquatic traps), an amphibian monitoring It concludes with an extensive list of references program was designed to best meet the needs of for inventorying and monitoring amphibians. biologists and natural resource managers after USGS and Great Smoky Mountains National taking into consideration the logistics, terrain, and life histories of the species found within Park biologists need to establish cooperative Great Smoky Mountains National Park. efforts and training to ensure that congression- This report provides an overview of the ally mandated amphibian surveys are per- Park’s amphibians, the factors affecting their formed in a statistically rigorous and distribution, a review of important areas of biologically meaningful manner, and that biodiversity, and a summary of amphibian life amphibian populations on Federal lands are history in the Southern Appalachians. In addi- monitored to ensure their long-term survival. tion, survey techniques are described as well as The research detailed in this report will aid examples of how the techniques are set up, a these cooperative efforts. Introduction The Florida Caribbean Science Center constraints. Survey teams sampled more than (now Florida Integrated Science Center) 500 sites (fig. 2) and recorded data on more than received funding in 1997 from the U.S. Geolog- 10,000 amphibians. All parts of the Park were ical Survey (USGS) Inventory and Monitoring visited in all seasons and in all weather (I&M) Program to conduct a pilot project for conditions. amphibians in the southeastern United States. The objectives of the Great Smoky After considering several locations, Great Mountains National Park I&M program were Smoky Mountains National Park (fig. 1) was to: (1) provide a geographically referenced selected for the survey because of its amphibian inventory of the amphibian resources of the diversity and the large number of potential Great Smoky Mountains National Park; threats to its varied ecosystems (Brown, 2000). (2) provide indices of abundance of Park During the course of the next 4 years, a field selected amphibian species, referenced to loca- research team of enthusiastic young biologists tions and habitat types; (3) develop and transfer was assembled to collect information on the to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park species richness and distribution of the Park=s and National Park Service a series of protocols amphibians. Researchers used a variety of sam- suitable for long-term monitoring of amphibian pling techniques, including 10 x 10-meter sur- populations in the “Smokies” and other Appala- vey plots, “permanent” 30 x 40-meter plots, chian parks; (4) evaluate current distributions coverboards, litter-bag surveys, and a great and abundance of amphibian species as possible number of time-constrained litter and stream in the Park with literature reports of past inves- searches. The team looked for previously tigations. This manual fulfills the third objective reported rare species, sampled historic loca- of the I&M program. Additional information on tions, investigated unique habitats (such as amphibian natural history, distribution, land- caves), and examined museum records and pub- scape ecology, trends analysis, and protocol lished literature. Survey activities and tech- development are published in Dodd and others, niques were designed to optimize the use of (2001), Waldron and others, (2003); Dodd, available personnel within budget and logistic (2004), or is under development. 2 84° 83°45′ 83°30′ 83°15′ 83° 411 Cosby 129 Pigeon 411 Fork Cosby Maryville 40 321 73 321 35°45′ Creek 321 Cosby L it Campground Gatlinburg tle Pig e Cosby o n Knob River Sugarlands Metcalf Visitor Center W Bottoms . P Creek r o 73 n g e e k Little River e L h re it c M S t Mount o C l o Foothills Parkway u e l e Whiteoak i g P d ige Le Conte a n o a n R t a Sink d r i a l la ve C e nd r C P M ro ou Cataloochee n n Abrams Ranger g t a Campground Station and Big Spring i reek n Campground C Cove Cades Cades Cove Cove 411 Oc s Campground ona Abram lu fte TENNESSEE e R i ver NORTH CAROLINA Clingmans Dome Smokemont GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS Creek NATIONAL PARK Blue Creek Big Cove R 19 Creek id ge 35°30′ Parkway Indian Cherokee Indian Hazel Reservation Deep 19 129 28 Bryson City Fontana Reservoir Great Smoky Mountains 411 B l National Park u e NC R 19 i TN d g 23 74 e SC P a 28 r MS GA Silva kw AL ay LA FL 19 74 23 411 Base from U.S. Geological Survey digital data, datum nad83 Albers Equal-Area Conic Projection, EXPLANATION ′′ ′ Standard parallels 29°° 30 and 45 30 , central meridian -83 ° 00 Shaded relief indicates area of Great Smoky Primary road (paved) Mountains National Park 0 5 10 15 MILES Secondary road (gravel) Cherokee Indian Reservation 0 5 10 15 KILOMETERS Park and Reservation boundaries 3 Figure 1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee. 84° 83°45′ 83°30′ 83°15′ 83° 35°45′ TENNESSEE NORTH CAROLINA 35°30′ Base from U.S. Geological Survey digital data, datum nad83, Albers Equal-Area Conic Projection, EXPLANATION Standard parallels 29°° 30′′ and 45 30 , central meridian -83° 00′ Great Smoky Mountains Primary road (paved) Park and Reservation National Park boundaries 0 5 10 MILES Secondary road (gravel) Cherokee Indian Sampling sites, 1998-2001 Park trails 0 5 10 KILOMETERS Reservation Figure 2. Location of U.S. Geological Survey sampling sites in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 1998 to 2001. Acknowledgments This manual is the result of collaborative survey National Park, particularly Keith Langdon, Dana efforts during 4 years of hard field work between 1998 Soehn, and Jack Piepenbring. and 2001 in the Great Smoky Mountains. The author For providing funding: Norita Chaney (USGS would like to thank the following individuals for their Inventory and Monitoring Program, Reston, support, assistance, dedication, and companionship: Virginia), Russell Hall (Florida Integrated Science For their field collecting skill, expertise, and gen- Center), and the USGS Amphibian Research and eral good humor during all kinds of weather condi- Monitoring Initiative (ARMI). tions, the USGS field crew from 1998 to 2001 (in For providing research permits: National Park alphabetical order): Jamie Barichivich, Jeff Corser, Service (Great Smoky Mountains National Park), Elizabeth Domingue, Marian Griffey, Kelly Irwin, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Christy Morgan, Rick >Bubba= Owen, Kevin G. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Smith, and Jayme Waldron. For figure 7: Todd For providing the beautiful illustrations of larval Campbell. For advice: James Petranka and Chuck amphibians: Jacqualine Grant. Smith. For reading the manuscript and making valuable For their support and assistance: the National Park comments: Jamie Barichivich, Marian Griffey, Service personnel at Great Smoky Mountains Russell Hall, Steve Johnson, Keith Langdon, and Jennifer Staiger.