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Southern two-lined salamanders in urbanizing watersheds

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Abstract

Forested riparian buffers are an increasingly common method of mitigating the negative effects of impervious surface cover on water quality and wildlife habitat. We sampled larval southern two-lined salamanders (Eurycea cirrigera) in 43 streams, representing the range of impervious surface cover and forested riparian buffer width across Wake County, NC, USA. Larval abundance decreased with increasing impervious surface cover in the upstream catchment, but was not affected by buffer width. This is likely a result of an incomplete buffer system and culverts or other breaches along streams. Larval abundance increased with detritus cover in the stream to a threshold and then decreased as detritus continued to increase. As percent pebble substrate in the stream increased, especially in perennial streams, larval salamander abundance also increased. We suspect salamanders were unable to migrate with the water column during dry periods in intermittent streams with sedimented interstices below the surface, resulting in low abundances. A combination of increased peak flows and sedimentation, reduced base flow, and chemical changes likely reduces the abundance of salamanders in urban and suburban streams. We suggest creation of catchment-wide, unbreached buffers to maintain the integrity of stream habitats in urbanizing watersheds.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. James Gregory for his knowledge and assistance with water quality and stream restoration, Dr. Stacy Nelson for his assistance with GIS, Mr. Alvin Braswell for his knowledge and advice on North Carolina salamanders, and Dr. Marcia Gumpertz for her generous time and advice on statistical analysis. Thank you to the City of Raleigh, Town of Apex, Town of Cary, Town of Holly Springs, Town of Morrisville, William B. Umstead State Park, Wake County, and all of the private homeowner’s associations that allowed us to conduct research on their greenways and lands. Thank you to volunteers Zach Brown, Bennett Hawley, Veronica Miller, Melissa Olivieri, Stephen Repasky, Jennifer Selvig, and Justin Spangler for their patient help in the field. The comments of two anonymous reviewers improved the quality of this article.

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  1. Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-8003, USA

    Jennifer E. Miller, George R. Hess & Christopher E. Moorman

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  1. Jennifer E. Miller
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  2. George R. Hess
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  3. Christopher E. Moorman
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Correspondence to Jennifer E. Miller.

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Miller, J.E., Hess, G.R. & Moorman, C.E. Southern two-lined salamanders in urbanizing watersheds. Urban Ecosyst 10, 73–85 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-006-0012-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-006-0012-5

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