Acoustic amphibian monitoring, 2019 data summary: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Casper GS, Nadeau SM, Parr TB. 2022. Acoustic amphibian monitoring, 2019 data summary: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/GLKN/NRDS—2022/1380. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2295171
Amphibians are a Vital Sign indicator for monitoring long-term ecosystem health in seven national park units that comprise the Great Lakes Network. We present here the results for 2019 amphibian monitoring at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (APIS). Appendices contain tabular summaries for six years of cumulative results. The National Park Service Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network established 10 permanent acoustic amphibian monitoring sites at APIS in 2014. Acoustic samples are collected by placing automated recorders with omnidirectional stereo microphones at each of the 10 sample sites. Temperature loggers co-located with the recorders also collect air temperature during the sampling period. The monitoring program detected six species of frogs and toads in 2019, with Green Frog and Spring Peeper occurring at every site sampled. Eastern American Toad was found at eight sites, Mink Frog at two sites, Gray Treefrog at six sites, and Wood Frog at four sites. An additional five species surveyed for were not detected: American Bullfrog, Boreal Chorus Frog, Cope’s Gray Treefrog, Northern Leopard Frog, and Pickerel Frog. Of these latter species, only Cope’s Gray Treefrog and Northern Leopard Frog are currently known to occur within the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Data were successfully collected from all sites in 2019 except APIS06 (due to equipment failure). Combining manual and automated surveys with large sample sizes continues to return reliable results, providing a confident record of site occupancy for most species. We recommend continuing to deploy island equipment in the fall, programmed for a delayed start, to better sample early calling species. However, we now recommend a start date of 10 March rather than 1 April based on the temperature logs showing that the threshold of ≥40°F was exceeded in mid-March in 2019. Loggers were programmed to start on 22 March in 2020 and on 15 March in 2021.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Casper, Gary; Nadeau, Stefanie; Parr, Thomas
- Date of Issue
- 2022-12
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2295171
- Units
- APIS , GLKN , NRSS
- Keywords
- acoustic, Amphibian Monitor, Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, Wisconsin