Document: WEN-3-69-2

Effects of landscape-level disturbance on amphibian and reptile communities in Missouri Ozark forests.

GRAM, W.K.* ¹ and R.B.RENKEN ²

University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73072, U.S.A. ¹
Missouri Department of Conservation, Columbia, MO, U.S.A. ²

Abstract:
Disturbance created by timber harvest results in a fragmented landscape where patches of regenerating forest are surrounded by sapling or mature forest. We experimentally tested the short-term impacts of removing several large patches (even-aged management) or many small patches (uneven-aged management) of mature forest on amphibian and reptile abundance and species composition. We did not find treatment effects on species composition or community-wide abundance one year or two years after timber harvest. However, Ambystoma salamanders declined in uneven-aged treatment sites on SW slopes and increased on uneven-aged treatment sites on NE slopes relative to control sites two years after harvest. Toads on NE slopes declined less in even-aged treatment sites and more in uneven-aged treatment sites than in control sites one year after harvest. On SW slopes, toads declined less in both even-aged and uneven-aged treatment sites than control sites both one and two years after harvest. Small snakes on NE slopes declined more in both even-aged and uneven-aged treatment sites than control sites two years after harvest. In general, Plethodon salamanders increased on all sites after harvest treatment, whereas skinks showed little change after treatment implentation. These results suggest that, from a landscape-level perspective, disturbance of several large patches is less detrimental to most amphibian and reptile groups than disturbance of many small patches because even-aged timber harvest may affect less of the surrounding forest than uneven-aged management.

Keywords: amphibians, reptiles, forest management, Ambystoma, Plethodon

This abstract is being presented at: 9:15 AM in session:
Oral Session #27: Salamanders, Lizards, and Tortoises.