Late-season movement and habitat use by Oregon Spotted Frog (Rana pretiosa in Oregon, USA

Abstract/Summary

Many amphibians use multiple habitats across seasons. Information on seasonal habitat use, movement between seasonal habitat types, and habitats that may be particularly valuable is important to conservation and management. We used radio-telemetry to study late- season movement and habitat use by Oregon Spotted Frog (Rana pretiosa) at 9 sites from 4 populations along the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. Movement rates declined with date and were the lowest at the end of tracking in December and January. Frogs across our sites used vegetated shallows in late summer and early fall. In fall, frogs used a range of habitat types, and at several sites moved to specialized distinctive habitats such as springs, interstices in lava rock, and semi-terrestrial beaver channels. Distance between first and last tracking location was <250 m for 84.5% (49/58) of frogs, ranged up to 1145 m, and was greater for frogs in ditch habitats than those not in ditches. DistinctiveSpecialized features like springs or semi-terrestrial retreats can host multiple frogs and may represent particularly valuable wintering habitat for R. pretiosa in some sites in their Oregon range.