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Hurricane storm surge and amphibian communities in coastal wetlands of northwestern Florida

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Abstract

Isolated wetlands in the Southeastern United States are dynamic habitats subject to fluctuating environmental conditions. Wetlands located near marine environments are subject to alterations in water chemistry due to storm surge during hurricanes. The objective of our study was to evaluate the effect of storm surge overwash on wetland amphibian communities. Thirty-two wetlands in northwestern Florida were sampled over a 45-month period to assess amphibian species richness and water chemistry. During this study, seven wetlands were overwashed by storm surge from Hurricane Dennis which made landfall 10 July 2005 in the Florida panhandle. This event allowed us to evaluate the effect of storm surge overwash on water chemistry and amphibian communities of the wetlands. Specific conductance across all wetlands was low pre-storm (<100 μS/cm), but increased post-storm at the overwashed wetlands (\( \bar{x} \) = 7,613 μS/cm). Increased specific conductance was strongly correlated with increases in chloride concentrations. Amphibian species richness showed no correlation with specific conductance. One month post-storm we observed slightly fewer species in overwashed compared with non-overwashed wetlands, but this trend did not continue in 2006. More species were detected across all wetlands pre-storm, but there was no difference between overwashed and non-overwashed wetlands when considering all amphibian species or adult anurans and larval anurans separately. Amphibian species richness did not appear to be correlated with pH or presence of fish although the amphibian community composition differed between wetlands with and without fish. Our results suggest that amphibian communities in wetlands in the southeastern United States adjacent to marine habitats are resistant to the effects of storm surge overwash.

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Acknowledgements

We thank James Burnett, Joe Reinman and Michael Keys of SMNWR. For assistance with amphibian field sampling we thank Steve Johnson, Linda Casey, Julia Earl, Denise Gregoire, Clint Smith, Andy Sheldon, Linda Sheldon, David Cook, Kevin Enge, Matthew Aresco, and Pierson Hill. Sue Hartley, Dan Calhoun, Mindi Dalton, Alan Cressler, and Deedee Black assisted with water sampling. C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr., Erin Muths, Steve Lawrence, and Matthew Aresco provided comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. This research was funded by the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative and a USGS Bureau Venture Capital Grant to MSG and WBH. Research was conducted under SMNWR Special Use Permit 41640-02011 and USGS IACUC Protocol # 2006-04.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United States Geological Survey, Southeast Ecological Science Center, 7920 NW 71st Street, Gainesville, FL, 32653, USA

    Margaret S. Gunzburger, William J. Barichivich & Jennifer S. Staiger

  2. United States Geological Survey, 3039 Amwiler Road, Ste 130, Atlanta, GA, 30360, USA

    William B. Hughes

  3. Nokuse Plantation, 13292 Co Hwy 3280, Bruce, FL, 32455, USA

    Margaret S. Gunzburger

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  1. Margaret S. Gunzburger
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  2. William B. Hughes
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  3. William J. Barichivich
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  4. Jennifer S. Staiger
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Correspondence to Margaret S. Gunzburger.

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Gunzburger, M.S., Hughes, W.B., Barichivich, W.J. et al. Hurricane storm surge and amphibian communities in coastal wetlands of northwestern Florida. Wetlands Ecol Manage 18, 651–663 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-010-9185-z

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