Top Story at USGS: ARMI Research from Nation’s Amphibian Hotspot

ARMI scientists Drs. Susan Walls (Southeast ARMI) and Hardin Waddle (South Central ARMI) recently published 3 papers from research conducted in our nation’s amphibian biodiversity hotspot. Walls and her colleagues synthesized what is known about current and possible future effects of extreme precipitation events on amphibians across the country; and then report findings from these actual weather events on mole salamanders (Ambystoma talpoideum) in St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, in Florida’s panhandle.

Further West, Waddle and his team reported the effect of restoring the hydrological flows to former agricultural lands in the Lower Mississippi Valley on species diversity and abundance of native frogs and toads. This voluntary restoration program is made possible through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wetlands Reserve Program.

Papers: Waddle,J. H., B. M. Glorioso, and S. P. Faulkner. 2013. A Quantitative Assessment of the Conservation Benefits of the Wetlands Reserve Program to Amphibians. Restoration Ecology Vol. 21, pp. 200–206.

Walls, S. C., W. J. Barichivich, and M. E. Brown. 2013. Drought, Deluge and Declines: The Impact of Precipitation Extremes on Amphibians in a Changing Climate. Biology Vol. 2, pp. 399-418.

Walls, S. C., W. J. Barichivich, M. E. Brown, D. E. Scott, and Blake R. Hossack. 2013. Influence of Drought on Salamander Occupancy of Isolated Wetlands on the Southeastern Coastal Plain of the United States. Wetlands Vol.33, pp 345-354.