USGS to survey Great Smoky amphibians

- ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS NETWORK  (USA) 29 May 98

U.S. Geological Survey scientists will inventory 40 species of amphibians over the next five years in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. From high mountain peaks to lowland rivers, chances are if you flip over a rock or peek in the crevices of a damp log in the Great Smoky Mountains,
you just might find a red-cheeked, pygmy or black-belly salamander. A lucky visitor may even find the rare Junaluska salamander or hear the chorus of serenading American toads after a severe spring storm. These are just a few of the 40 species of amphibians -- that is, frogs, toads and salamanders -- that U.S. Geological Survey scientists will inventory over the next five years in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a region that has the greatest diversity of amphibians in North America.

The USGS survey is in response to the worldwide reports of sharp declines in the numbers of amphibians. Researchers believe that by monitoring the status and trends of amphibians in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park they can help predict trends in amphibian populations elsewhere
around the nation.

To survey amphibians, USGS scientists will hike to remote study plots where they will eventually turn over almost every stick and stone and wade in most creeks. They will also drive park roads after severe thunderstorms looking for amphibians moving to mating ponds. Their inventory will provide information on the condition of biological resources to Department of Interior land managers and others.

"In terms of significance to amphibians, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is more important than anywhere else in North America," said Dr. Ken Dodd, a USGS zoologist at the Florida Caribbean Science Center in Gainesville, which is leading the inventory in cooperation with
the National Park Service. 

"By their sheer numbers in the park, amphibians are among the most important groups of animals both as prey and as predators, and are therefore an important indicator of ecological health," said Dodd. Researchers have long maintained that certain traits of amphibians--such as their permeable skin, their ability to live on land and in the water, and their complex life cycles--justify their use as indicators of environmental health.

The USGS survey is in response to worldwide reports of sharp declines in the numbers of amphibians. Dodd said that this is the largest field survey undertaken in any eastern U.S. National Park to determine the population trends of an entire large and diverse amphibian fauna. The
study, he said, will allow USGS scientists to ensure that amphibian population trends are recorded and that declines, should they occur, receive immediate attention. In addition, the National Park Service will use the data to ensure that it follows the best management practices for protecting the diversity of the Park's amphibians.

"The entire southern and mid-section of the Appalachian chain -- from northern Georgia to northern Virginia -- is characterized by a great diversity of amphibians, especially salamanders," said Dodd. Some of these species are found nowhere else (Jordon's salamander, pygmy salamander, Junaluska salamander), or have the centers of their ranges in the southern Appalachians.

For more information, contact Hannah Hamilton, USGS, (352)378-8181.