Monitoring the status and trends of the Shenandoah salamander in Shenandoah National Park

Abstract/Summary

The Shenandoah salamander (Plethodon shenandoah) is a federally endangered salamander whose distribution is restricted to three mountain peaks within Shenandoah National Park . During the ranking of vital signs monitoring priorities for SHEN, “Federal Threatened and Endangered Species” received the 2nd highest ranking for terrestrial vital signs because of ecological, management, and policy criteria. The following protocol describes the objectives and methods for monitoring the Shenandoah salamander. Because the range size and habitat occupancy are of principle interest, this protocol generates data suitable for estimating the annual proportion of occupied habitat across the species range. Objectives focus on describing the status and trends of the species distribution (i.e. spatial extent) and the proportion of the range that is occupied (i.e. density of occupied sites). To do so, monitoring sites in the core and the edge of the known range are surveyed for salamanders multiple times during both the spring and fall. The resulting data not only allow for an assessment of the status and trend of the species but also provide supporting data to assist in understanding causal drivers of population change.