United States Department of Agriculture Conservation Assessment Forest Service for the Northern Leopard Rocky Mountain Region Frog in the Black Hills Black Hills National Forest National Forest South Custer, South Dakota Dakota and Wyoming April 2003 Brian E. Smith Conservation Assessment of the Northern Leopard Frog in the Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota and Wyoming Brian E. Smith Department of Biology Black Hills State University 1200 University Street Unit 9044 Spearfish, SD 57799-9044 [email protected] Dr. Brian E. Smith is an assistant professor of biology at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota. He is a conservation biologist who primarily studies reptiles and amphibians. He earned his doctorate from the University of Texas at Arlington in January of 1996 and has studied the herpetofauna of the Black Hills since then. He also conducts research on the conservation biology of reptiles in the Caribbean. He is the author of several scholarly and popular publications on the herpetofauna of the Black Hills and the Caribbean. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................................1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................................................2 CURRENT MANAGEMENT SITUATION.................................................................................................................2 Management Status...................................................................................................................................................2 Existing Management Plans, Assessments, Or Conservation Strategies ..................................................................2 REVIEW OF TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE................................................................................................................2 Systematics ...............................................................................................................................................................2 Distribution And Abundance ....................................................................................................................................3 Population Trend.......................................................................................................................................................4 Movement Patterns ...................................................................................................................................................6 Habitat Characteristics..............................................................................................................................................8 Tadpole Habitat....................................................................................................................................................8 Subadult Habitat...................................................................................................................................................9 Adult Habitat......................................................................................................................................................10 Overwintering Habitat........................................................................................................................................11 Food Habits.............................................................................................................................................................12 Breeding Biology....................................................................................................................................................13 Demography ...........................................................................................................................................................16 Community Ecology...............................................................................................................................................17 Basic Community Ecology ................................................................................................................................18 Predators ............................................................................................................................................................19 Introduced Predators ..........................................................................................................................................20 Overcollection....................................................................................................................................................21 Competitors........................................................................................................................................................21 Parasites And Diseases.......................................................................................................................................22 WATER QUALITY ....................................................................................................................................................23 Pesticides ................................................................................................................................................................24 Fertilizers ................................................................................................................................................................25 Mining/Metals.........................................................................................................................................................26 pH/Acidification .....................................................................................................................................................26 Roadways................................................................................................................................................................26 Lumberyards...........................................................................................................................................................27 Cattle grazing..........................................................................................................................................................27 Sedimentation From Other Sources ........................................................................................................................27 Rotenone.................................................................................................................................................................27 Limb Malformations...............................................................................................................................................28 Ozone/Ultraviolet Penetration ................................................................................................................................28 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) .........................................................................................................................28 Arsenic....................................................................................................................................................................28 RESPONSE TO HABITAT CHANGES.....................................................................................................................29 Management Activities ...........................................................................................................................................29 Timber Harvest ..................................................................................................................................................29 Recreation ..........................................................................................................................................................29 Livestock Grazing..............................................................................................................................................30 Mining................................................................................................................................................................31 Prescribed Fire ...................................................................................................................................................31 Fire Suppression.................................................................................................................................................31 Use Of Pesticides ...............................................................................................................................................32 Fuelwood Harvest ..............................................................................................................................................32 Natural Disturbances...............................................................................................................................................32 Insect Epidemics ................................................................................................................................................33 Disease Outbreaks..............................................................................................................................................33