Greater Yellowstone Network amphibian monitoring: 2012-2013 biennial status report
Ray A and Patla D. 2016. Greater Yellowstone Network amphibian monitoring: 2012-2013 biennial status report. Natural Resource Report. NPS/GRYN/NRR—2016/1140. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The national parks (Grand Teton National Park, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, and Yellowstone National Park) within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem provide an opportunity to monitor wetlands and amphibians within a relatively intact ecosystem and at spatial and temporal scales that offer valuable insights on the status of regional wetland flooding and drying patterns, amphibian population dynamics, and the wetland habitat features associated with amphibian use. The Greater Yellowstone Network amphibian monitoring program is the only long-term wetland and amphibian monitoring program in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem that annually revisits a large number of randomly selected wetlands across the region. The goal of this program is to estimate occupancy rates for the reproductive component of native amphibian species and incorporate the dynamics of wetland sites that provide potential breeding habitat. These annual measures of amphibian occurrence and wetland flooding status also contribute to local, regional, and national level trends analysis in amphibian populations. This work, when combined with historical data, will provide managers and the public with information on a class of native fauna and on wetland characteristics that are important for understanding long-term trends or changes in wetland resources. This report describes amphibian monitoring efforts and results from the years 2012 and 2013. In both years, we conducted surveys in 31 catchments (sampling units) selected for long-term monitoring. All species targeted for monitoring were found. There were no plains spadefoot (Spea bombifrons), or northern leopard frogs (Lithobates pipiens) and no nonnative American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) detected at monitoring sites.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Ray, Andrew; Patla, Debra
- Date of Issue
- 2016-02
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRTE , GRYN , JODR , NRSS , YELL
- Keywords
- Amphibians, environmental DNA, Grand Teton National Park, Greater Yellowstone Network, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, Monitoring, occupancy rates, population dynamics, trend, wetlands, Yellowstone National Park
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Amphibians and Reptiles