Amphibian community monitoring at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, 2011

Smrekar, Briana; Byrne, Michael; Moore, Marylou; Presnell, Aaron

This report summarizes amphibian community vital signs monitoring data collected at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in 2011. During 2011, visual encounter surveys (VESs) were used to collect data at 30 spatially balanced random locations within Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. Due to prescribed burn activity, automated recording devices (ARDs) were deployed at 29 of these locations. Auditory recordings were collected at the park from 3/11/2011 through 5/31/2011 and visual surveys were conducted from 8/2/2011 to 8/18/2011. We detected 20 amphibian species during 2011 monitoring activities. We detected vocalizations from 13 identifiable anuran species using the ARDs. We detected 61 post-metamorphic amphibians in 12 species and three identifiable taxa (family or genus), and 324 larval stage amphibians in two taxa during the VESs. A total of 135 vocal detections were made using the ARD recordings, where each detection represents an identifiable observation of a species or species group during one night of monitoring at a sampling location. We detected 261 reptiles in 15 identifiable taxa during the VESs. The Fowler’s toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) and the spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) had the highest frequency of occurrence at HOBE, and the Fowler’s toad had the highest relative abundance during VESs in 2011. Spring peeper and Cope’s gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) had the highest relative detection frequency of vocalizations during the 77-day ARD recording period. Fowler’s toad, spring peeper, and Southern leopard frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus) were the most widely distributed amphibian species, found in all four quadrants of the park. The squirrel treefrog (Hyla squirella) and the spotted dusky salamander (Desmognathus conanti) were added to the amphibian park species list at Horseshoe Bend. Two reptiles were detected for the first time in the park and added to the species list; the Southeastern crowned snake (Tantilla coronata) and the smooth earth snake (Virginia valeriae). Although shells of the Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina) were detected at 70% of the sampling locations, only one live individual was located during 2011 sampling activities. This finding may warrant additional surveys to determine the status of the Eastern box turtle at HOBE. No non-native species were detected.

Amphibian community monitoring at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, 2011

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