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Research
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Objectives
and brief Methods:
- Salamanders are key indicators of climate change.
Salamander populations vary in different climates due to precipitation,
temperature, humidity and soil moisture and composition. Studying
the salamander activity under our coverboards does not begin to give
an estimate as to the populations of salamanders in the forest, but
we hope that it will inform us of how climate change is affecting
the general population of salamanders, especially Plethodon cinereus,
and our environment.
- Salamanders are searched for under coverboards
that have been set out. Transacts of coverboards are set at 3 sites
with 2 habitats at each site. Each month the cover boards are uncovered
and salamanders found beneath the boards are captured the length and
species is recorded. Data from loggers in the field are downloaded
each month and the data is brought back to be analyzed.
Further Detail:
The Salamander
Response to Climate Change project (SRCC) was initiated by a group comprised
primarily of undergraduates with graduate students at Lehigh University
under the administration of Earth and Environmental Science Professor
Craig Williamson. The group monitors the species and quantity of salamanders
found on a monthly basis at three sites. As well as the data collected
on salamanders, climatic data such as precipitation, temperature, and
relative humidity is compiled for that month. By tracking the salamanders,
their activity levels and prevalence compared to the climatic data and
the atmospheric conditions that control activity will be understood.
Climate change clearly affects salamander species differently and this
project will help to identify, document, and quantify those differences.
Animals such as salamanders are natural indicators of the environment
and the state it is in. If there is a decline in amphibians, such as
salamanders, it is an indication that the environment in which these
animals are found in may be changing. These animals are the keys to
knowing the health of our natural environments, and in which direction
these environments might be heading. Knowing that the environment is
suffering negative effects, as indicated by salamander activity levels,
this could provide the impetus to control or reverse such a trend.
This research
is conducted at three sites, South Mountain, Hawk Mountain, and the
Lacawac Sanctuary. At each site cover boards, 30 x 30 x 5cm pieces of
white oak, are placed along transect lines to provide artificial habitat
under which salamanders are searched for and scored when the sites are
checked monthly. The cover boards are placed in two different types
of habitats at each site, at a dry ridge and a moist hollow. On the
monthly visits data of how many and which type of salamanders are found
under the cover boards is taken, as well as downloading data from the
data loggers. Mini-computer data loggers collect the data of the precipitation,
temperature, and relative humidity at predetermined intervals. The models
we use for temperature readings is Onset Computer Corporation Shuttle.
For humidity readings HOBO is used. The data is downloaded from the
data loggers onto a lab top computer, saved at the site, and reconfigured
for the next month of collection. The data of salamander activity levels
will then be compared to climatic data to explore the salamanders' reaction
to climate change
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