Feather Creek Nature Preserve Amphibians

We are collecting salamanders and frogs in the Feather Creek Nature Preserve using a number of different methods.  Cover boards have been effective.  They simply are short pieces of rough-cut lumber that are placed directly on the soil.  The salamanders use these boards as cover.  A second method is transect sampling where we sift through leaf litter and search under rocks and woody debris at intervals along our transects.  We will also sample in Craig Creek for aquatic salamanders and frogs. 

 

Species collected so far include the northern zigzag, the slimy salamander and the southern two-lined salamander.   We expect to find several other species as the research continues.  We record the GPS location of each of our collection sites and will eventually be able to plot distribution maps for each species.  When that data becomes available it will be linked from this page.

 

Before the ice storm, we laid out a  GIS sample grid map of the preserve and had planned sampling from but have had to modify our plans because of the damage from the storm.  We are now limited in sampling to our cleared paths. 

 

We have collected several Northern zigzag salamanders and found some very interesting color variation in them.    Pictures of the zigzags and of slimy salamander have been uploaded.