%0 Journal Article
%T EVIDENCE OF A NEW NICHE FOR A NORTH AMERICAN SALAMANDER: ANEIDES VAGRANS RESIDING IN THE CANOPY OF OLD-GROWTH REDWOOD FOREST
%A James C. Spickler
%A Stephen C. Sillett
%A Sharyn B. Marks
%A Hartwell H. Welsh
%A Jr.
%J Herpetological Conservation and Biology
%D 2006
%I Herpetological Conservation and Biology
%X .¡ªWe investigated habitat use and movements of the wandering salamander, Aneides vagrans, in an old-growth forestcanopy. We conducted a mark-recapture study of salamanders in the crowns of five large redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) inPrairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California. This represented a first attempt to document the residency and behavior ofA. vagrans in a canopy environment. We placed litter bags on 65 fern (Polypodium scouleri) mats, covering 10% of their totalsurface area in each tree. Also, we set cover boards on one fern mat in each of two trees. We checked cover objects 2¨C4 timesper month during fall and winter seasons. We marked 40 individuals with elastomer tags and recaptured 13. Only onerecaptured salamander moved (vertically 7 m) from its original point of capture. We compared habitats associated withsalamander captures using correlation analysis and stepwise regression. At the tree-level, the best predictor of salamanderabundance was water storage by fern mats. At the fern mat-level, the presence of cover boards accounted for 85% of thevariability observed in captures. Population estimates indicated that individual trees had up to 29 salamanders. Large fernmats have high water-holding capacities, which likely enable year-round occupation of the canopy by A. vagrans. Otherobservations indicate that A. vagrans and its close relative A. ferreus also occupy additional habitats in forest canopies,especially moist cavities inside decaying wood.
%K Herpetological Conservation and Biology
%U http://www.herpconbio.org/volume_1/issue_1/Spickler_et_al._2006.pdf