PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 32: Reptiles and Amphibians.

Thursday, August 5 Presentations from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall A 1.

Upland spatial distribution of sub-adult California tiger salamanders.

Stewart, Bret^*,1, Fitzpatrick, Benjamin¹, Trenham, Peter^{1, 2}, Shaffer, Howard¹, ¹ Section of Evolution and Ecology, Davis, CA, USA² U.S. Department of the Interior, Sacramento, CA, USA

ABSTRACT- The California Tiger Salamander is a pond-breeding amphibian that has declined throughout its range due to loss and fragmentation of critical vernal pond habitat and surrounding uplands. Though the majority of amphibian decline research has focused on aquatic phases of the amphibian life cycle, the survival of the entirely terrestrial sub-adult phase is critical to the maintenance of viable breeding populations. We surrounded an isolated breeding pond with an array of pitfall traps to monitor the movement patterns and distribution of sub-adult and emergent post metamorphic CTS at 200 meters, 400m, 500m, 600m, and 700m from the pond's edge. We sought to determine how upland salamander density relates to distance from a breeding pond. We found that the number of CTS at 700m is roughly equal to the number at 200m, though density declines steadily with distance. Emergent metamorphs travel well beyond 200m during their initial exit from natal ponds. These data indicate that the survival of breeding populations requires protection of large areas of upland habitat in addition to breeding ponds.

Key words: amphibian, density, california tiger salamander, terrestrial