A Lentic Breeder in Lotic Waters: Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana sierrae) Habitat Suitability in Northern Sierra Nevada Streams

Yarnell, S. M.; Peek, Ryan A.; Keung, Neil C.; Todd, Brian D.; Lawler, Sharon P.; Brown, Cathy

doi:10.1643/ch-19-213

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…At Lone Rock Creek, tadpoles and subadults were found more often adjacent to the deep runs and pools behind beaver dams, whereas adults were found more often in the riffles upstream. Similar to Yarnell et al (2019, in this volume), we generally found frogs in shallow water, and those authors suggested frogs find similar microhabitats within what may appear to be diverse habitats at larger scales. However, we caution against using simple habitat suitability cutoffs to make specific management decisions given the extensive breadth of habitats used by the species as seen here.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Demography, Habitat, and Movements of the Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana sierrae) in Streams

Brown

Wilkinson

et al. 2019

Copeia

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Demography, Habitat, and Movements of the Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana sierrae) in Streams

Brown

Wilkinson

et al. 2019

Copeia

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This may explain the shift to off-channel habitats at Independence and use of floodplain pools by subadults at Lone Rock during high flows. This generally agrees with Yarnell et al (2019) who found that frogs preferred shallow and low velocity water, which they find in a variety of geomorphic unit types. Our analyses add nuance to this result, however, by using a random slope model that explicitly accounted for habitats available at the time of survey (seasonal units), flows (hydrologic index), and streams, and by explicitly modeling the interaction between depths and flow (presence and water velocity).…”

Section: Perennial Channelssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…We studied six occupied reaches of four streams in R. sierrae's northern range that varied by size, hydrology, geomorphology, and frog abundance (Fig. 1; Yarnell et al 2019). Perennial Lone Rock Creek (2.7 km) and Independence Creek (0.66 m) are low-to-moderate gradient, second-and third-order reaches (Fig.…”

Section: Study Streamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Larger populations were found in intermittent creeks than in perennial streams in one study (Brown et al 2020). Further, frogs used varying microhabitats in diverse streams, preferred pools in three of four streams (Brown et al 2019), and preferred shallow, slow water which could be found in various geomorphic unit types (e.g., pools, riffles, cascades, Yarnell et al 2019). Here, we advance our understanding of R. sierrae habitat use in streams by explicitly modeling variation in habitat selection across temporal and spatial scales and by comparing habitat selection of wild and captive-reared frogs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Untangling multi‐scale habitat relationships of an endangered frog in streams to inform reintroduction programs

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Successful reintroductions of endangered species rely on comprehensive knowledge of habitat requirements across spatial and temporal scales. To inform designs of reintroduction programs, we studied habitat selection of the federally endangered Sierra Nevada yellow‐legged frog (Rana sierrae) in streams in its northern range. We quantified multi‐scale habitat use across diverse streams, habitat types within streams, and seasonal flows. In one intermittent stream, we compared habitat selection between wild and captive‐reared frogs that were released as a population augmentation. We analyzed habitat selection of seasonal habitat unit types (e.g., pool, riffle, cascades) and dimensions, and microhabitat hydrology and cover. R. sierrae appeared able to meet its ecological requirements in a variety of habitats. Study streams ranged from third‐order perennial streams to first‐order intermittent headwater creeks. Perennial streams retained a variety of habitats across flows whereas intermittent streams dried to just a few pools. Frogs used all seasonal habitat types but selected deeper pools most often relative to available habitats in intermittent streams and selected riffles or showed no preference in perennial streams. Frogs avoided fast deep‐water microhabitats, but, otherwise, preferred flowing water or deeper water without flow. Our results suggest that diverse streams can be considered candidates for reintroductions. Within intermittent streams, deeper perennial pools may provide more stable release sites, whereas non‐pool habitats may be safer in perennial streams with fish. Importantly, captive‐reared frogs selected similar habitats as wild frogs, suggesting that captivity does not alter habitat selection behaviors post‐release and that reintroduction designs for this species can be based on wild frog preferences. By improving our understanding of how habitat use varies among different types of streams and differs seasonally in response to changing habitat conditions, our results inform the design of effective reintroduction programs for frogs in streams.

show abstract

“…Thus, our data suggest this is unlikely to be a major concern for current conservation management, at least currently (see below). While there is a potential for misclas- (Bondi, Yarnell, & Lind, 2013;Yarnell et al, 2019), but Rana sierrae are uniquely adapted to persist in short-growing periods common in the high Sierras (Bradford, 1983;Knapp et al, 2003). Rana sierrae tadpoles may overwinter multiple years before metamorphosing, thus R. sierrae may have diverged from R. boylii because of their ability to persist in colder climates, common during periods of glaciation during the Pleistocene.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybridization between two parapatric ranid frog species in the northern Sierra Nevada, California, USA

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Contact zones between species provide a unique opportunity to test whether taxa can hybridize or not. Cross‐breeding or hybridization between closely related taxa can promote gene flow (introgression) between species, adaptation, or even speciation. Though hybridization events may be short‐lived and difficult to detect in the field, genetic data can provide information about the level of introgression between closely related taxa. Hybridization can promote introgression between species, which may be an important evolutionary mechanism for either homogenization (reversing initial divergence between species) or reproductive isolation (potentially leading to speciation). Here, we used thousands of genetic markers from nuclear DNA to detect hybridization between two parapatric frog species (Rana boylii and Rana sierrae) in the Sierra Nevada of California. Based on principal components analysis, admixture, and analysis of heterozygosity at species diagnostic SNPs, we detected two F1 hybrid individuals in the Feather River basin, as well as a weak signal of introgression and gene flow between the frog species compared with frog populations from two other adjacent watersheds. This study provides the first documentation of hybridization and introgression between these two species, which are of conservation concern.

show abstract

A Lentic Breeder in Lotic Waters: Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana sierrae) Habitat Suitability in Northern Sierra Nevada Streams

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 6 publications

References 21 publications

Demography, Habitat, and Movements of the Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana sierrae) in Streams

Demography, Habitat, and Movements of the Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana sierrae) in Streams

Untangling multi‐scale habitat relationships of an endangered frog in streams to inform reintroduction programs

Hybridization between two parapatric ranid frog species in the northern Sierra Nevada, California, USA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About