Three decades of urbanization: Estimating the impact of land-cover change on stream salamander populations

Urbanization has become the dominant form of landscape disturbance in parts of the United States. Small streams in the Piedmont region of the eastern United States support high densities of salamanders and are often the first habitats to be affected by landscape-altering factors such as urbanization...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological conservation 2006-12, Vol.133 (4), p.436-441
Main Authors: Price, Steven J., Dorcas, Michael E., Gallant, Alisa L., Klaver, Robert W., Willson, John D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Caudata
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Desmognathus fuscus
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Eurycea cirrigera
Fresh water ecosystems
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Land cover change
LAND USE
North Carolina
Northern dusky salamander
Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking
POPULATION DYNAMICS
SALAMANDERS
Southern two-lined salamander
STREAMS
Synecology
URBAN AREAS
Urban sprawl
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Summary:Urbanization has become the dominant form of landscape disturbance in parts of the United States. Small streams in the Piedmont region of the eastern United States support high densities of salamanders and are often the first habitats to be affected by landscape-altering factors such as urbanization. We used US Geological Survey land cover data from 1972 to 2000 and a relation between stream salamanders and land cover, established from recent research, to estimate the impact of contemporary land-cover change on the abundance of stream salamanders near Davidson, North Carolina, a Piedmont locale that has experienced rapid urbanization during this time. Our analysis indicates that southern two-lined salamander ( Eurycea cirrigera) populations have decreased from 32% to 44% while northern dusky salamanders ( Desmognathus fuscus) have decreased from 21% to 30% over the last three decades. Our results suggest that the widespread conversion of forest to urban land in small catchments has likely resulted in a substantial decline of populations of stream salamanders and could have serious effects on stream ecosystems.
ISSN:0006-3207
1873-2917
DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.07.005