Chapter 3 North Carolina Species
reduces desiccation and promotes amphibian survival in modified landscapes such as harvested forests (Rittenhouse et al. 2008, Shoo et al . 2011) .
Species for which the Amphibian Taxa Team determined there are research priorities because of knowledge gaps are included in Table 3-1 Amphibian SGCN and Other Priority Species (see Appendix 3). 3.2.5 Management Needs Management recommendations include the need to protect known breeding sites as well as nearby and surrounding uplands; restore degraded sites and maintain existing sites through application of prescribed fire during appropriate seasons and at required intervals; protect corridors connecting nearby and adjacent breeding sites; investigate captive breeding methods and opportunities for population augmentation and translocation; restore existing wetlands and create new ponds; and monitor populations for evidence of disease and pathogens so that protective measures can be designed and implemented when needed. The Taxa Team indicated current levels of habitat management for some species are not sufficient to maintain long-term viable populations. For example, when prescribed burns cannot be used to maintain ephemeral pools for breeding habitat they can be encroached by woody shrubs and invasive plants, thereby reducing the number and quality of breeding pools. Vegetation removal and maintenance of these areas will maintain and improve the condition of existing breeding habitats. An example of successful amphibian habitat restoration is work being conducted by NCWRC biologists and partners in the Sandhills and Coastal Plain ecoregions targeting SGCN species such as the Gopher Frog, Ornate Chorus Frog, and Eastern Tiger Salamander, although many other amphibian and reptile species also benefit. These SGCN require open-canopied, herbaceous ephemeral ponds for successful reproduction. Some upland ephemeral pools are maintained as open-canopy emergent wetlands because of naturally long hydroperiods that prevent the colonization of trees and shrubs (e.g. limestone sinks with a groundwater connection). However, many upland, isolated wetlands would have historically been maintained as open, “grassy” ponds through a combination of hyrdoperiod and fire regime processes (DeSteven and Toner 2004) . Because of historic fire exclusion, or problems with the timing of prescribed fire, many isolated ponds that were once open-canopied have become forested. Dense canopy in these ponds reduces herbaceous vegetation needed for amphibian egg attachment, changes the pond’s pH, and can drastically alter the hydroperiod such that ponds dry out too early in the year for amphibian larval development to be completed.
Restoration efforts in wetlands have included removal of organic and woody debris by manual and mechanical means, as well as the use of prescribed fire. Manual removal of woody and
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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