Effects of Cover Board Age, Season, and Habitat on the Observed Abundance of Eastern Red-Backed Salamanders (Plethodon Cinereus)

Abstract

JNAH INRODUCTIONPlethodontid salamanders are potentially good ecological indicator species in woodland habitats due to their abundance and heightened sensitivity to fine-scale changes in the environment (Welsh and Droege, 2001;Welsh and Hodgson, 2013). The effective use of terrestrial salamanders as ecological indicators depends on whether or not the data being collected is accurate and repeatable. Some of the more common methods of monitoring terrestrial salamanders have been the use of transect counts, quadrat searches, funnel traps, pitfall traps, searches of natural cover objects, and searches of artificial cover objects (Bailey et al., 2004;Strain et al., 2009;Otto and Roloff, 2011).The use of artificial cover objects has been suggested as a simple and efficient means of monitoring populations of plethodontid salamanders, particularly those of small-bodied terrestrial species such as the Eastern Redbacked Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) (Moore, 2005(Moore, , 2009Grover, 2006). Several factors influence the use of artificial cover objects by salamanders (see Miller Hesed, 2012 for review) including: the proximity of the artificial cover objects to natural cover objects (Ciul et al.