Do Existing Constructed Ponds on Pelee Island, Ontario Match the Habitat Requirements of Endangered Ambystoma Larvae?
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CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS
Do Existing Constructed Ponds on Pelee Island, Ontario Match the Habitat Requirements of Endangered Ambystoma Larvae? Meghan Ward 1 & Thomas J. Hossie 1 Received: 15 May 2020 / Accepted: 13 August 2020 # Society of Wetland Scientists 2020
Abstract Global loss of wetlands has significantly reduced the habitat available for amphibians. Various organizations now regularly construct wetlands to provide areas for amphibian reproduction and larval development. To support wetland taxa, including federally-endangered salamanders, numerous ponds have been constructed in Southern Ontario. We examine natural and constructed ponds to address three questions: 1) What environmental variables govern the presence of salamander larvae in ponds?, 2) What environmental variables predict relative abundance of salamander larvae?, and 3) Do constructed ponds match the habitat needs for salamander larvae as observed in natural ponds? Presence of larvae was associated with high canopy cover and crayfish burrow presence, whereas catch-per-unit-effort increased with the amount of leaf litter in the substrate and presence of submergent vegetation. Constructed ponds had less canopy cover, less leaf litter in the substrate, warmer water, and fewer contained submergent vegetation. Larvae were caught in only 33% of constructed ponds, and catch-per-unit-effort was ~4-10x lower than in natural ponds. Constructed ponds on Pelee Island therefore require additional restoration support or naturalization before they are of substantial conservation value to salamanders. Protecting natural breeding sites remains critical for amphibian conservation, as created ponds may not adequately alleviate the loss of this habitat. Keywords Amphibians . Habitat creation . Habitat suitability . Salamanders . Species-at-risk . Vernal pools
Introduction A wide range of taxa have been negatively impacted by habitat loss (e.g., Gaston et al. 2003; Gibbons et al. 2000; Meyer et al. 2010), but the impact on amphibians has been particularly widespread and severe (Wood et al. 2003; Cushman 2006; Gallant et al. 2007). In part, amphibians are vulnerable because their biphasic life history requires both aquatic and terrestrial habitat (Hanken et al. 1997; Becker et al. 2007). Wetlands and vernal pools are essential for many amphibians because they provide places to breed, places for their larvae to Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-020-01364-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Meghan Ward [email protected] * Thomas J. Hossie [email protected] 1
Department of Biology, Trent University, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8, Canada
develop, refugia from terrestrial predators, and important nonbreeding habitat (Porej and Hetherington 2005; Gorman et al. 2009; Ryan and Calhoun 2014). Despite their ecological importance (Gibbs 2000), the decline in pond and wetland habitat is ongoing (Wood et al. 2003; Watmough and Schmoll 2007; Davidson 2
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