AMPHIBIANS
AMPHIBIANS Sandhills Winter-breeding Amphibian Monitoring by Aubrey Greene, Wildlife Diversity Biologist/Herpetologist A wet winter in the Sandhills has been keeping WRC biologists of which had 100s of egg masses, indi- cating these wetlands house robust populations!
nights we get each year. The Carolina Gopher Frog, another winter-breeding amphibian, is State Endangered, so it is important that we monitor and manage its popula- tions. Similar to tiger salamanders, we survey for gopher frog egg masses in
busy monitoring winter-breeding amphibians. The rains began in late December 2023 and spurred Eastern Tiger Salamanders (photo below) to begin migrating to ephemeral wet- lands to breed. After two winters of drought conditions with minimal (if any) breeding activity, this was excit- ing news! Tiger salamanders are listed as a State Threatened species in North Carolina, so we monitor their popula- tions closely. We do this by counting the number of egg masses laid in each wetland. Each female tiger salaman- der lays around 3 egg masses, so we can use the total number of masses to estimate the number of breeding females in the population. This year, we documented eggs at 16 wetlands throughout the Sandhills region, some
Wetlands are surveyed on public and private lands throughout the Sandhills region. The exciting news for tiger salamanders this year was the discovery of a new population on pri- vate lands in the Sandhills! It was reported (via HerpMapper) by a citi- zen who found adult tiger salaman- ders crossing the road on a rainy night. The adjacent landowners were kind enough to allow access to the wetlands we thought these salaman- ders might be using, and egg masses were found in three ponds. This find- ing highlights the importance of citi- zens reporting sightings of rare wild- life; we can’t be everywhere at once and can only cover so much ground on those few warm, rainy, winter
PLEASE NOTE: Our State Listed species are protect- ed from take and harassment so if you see them, please ob- serve these animals respectfully, help them cross the road if needed (and if it’s safe for YOU!), and leave them be.
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AUBREY H. GREENE/NCWRC
34 2024 Wildlife Diversity Program Annual Report
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