Development of Expectations of Larval Amphibian Assemblage Structure in Southeastern Depression Wetlands

We surveyed larval amphibians and fish in 25 relatively pristine depression wetlands on the upper Atlantic coastal plain of South Carolina to examine relationships among hydroperiod length, fish presence/absence and larval amphibian assemblage structure. Our goals were to test the application of gen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological applications 2000-08, Vol.10 (4), p.1219-1229
Main Authors: Snodgrass, Joel W., Bryan, A. Lawrence, Burger, Joanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amphibia
Amphibians
biological monitoring
Carolina bays
Community structure
Drying
Environmental assessment
Fish
Freshwater
hydroperiod
Larvae
Larval development
reference conditions
Savannah River Site, South Carolina
Species
species richness
USA, South Carolina
Wetland ecology
Wetlands
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We surveyed larval amphibians and fish in 25 relatively pristine depression wetlands on the upper Atlantic coastal plain of South Carolina to examine relationships among hydroperiod length, fish presence/absence and larval amphibian assemblage structure. Our goals were to test the application of general models of lentic community structure to Southeastern depression wetlands and to develop expectations of larval amphibian assemblage structure at reference sites. Amphibian species richness showed a unimodal pattern along a hydroperiod gradient, with wetlands that contained water for 8-10 mo/yr having the highest species richness. Wetlands that contained water for longer periods (i.e., dried only during severe drought) often contained fish and had relatively low amphibian species richness. Most species occurred along a restricted portion of the hydroperiod gradient, and some species were found almost exclusively in wetlands with fish. Associations among the occurrence of species led to relatively discrete breaks in assemblage structure along the hydroperiod gradient. Canonical correspondence analysis of catch-per-unit-effort data identified four groups of wetlands with similar assemblage structure: (1) short (drying in spring), (2) medium (drying in summer), and (3) long (drying in fall or semi-annually) hydroperiod wetlands without fish; and (4) long hydroperiod wetlands with fish. Our results suggest that general models of community structure in lentic systems are applicable to southeastern isolated wetlands and should form the basis for developing expectations of larval amphibian assemblage structure in these systems.
ISSN:1051-0761
1939-5582
DOI:10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[1219:DOEOLA]2.0.CO;2