The following is guest post by Brittany Sumner, a senior at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

I am currently a senior in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology at Clemson University.  I have spent the last three months participating in a Creative Inquiry (CI) project that focuses on the effects of exurbanization on salamanders in the Clemson area.  This Creative Inquiry really interested me because my passion is endangered species and human impacts on wildlife.  The research we are doing shows how exurbanization could be affecting salamander populations in first order streams, which goes right along with my interest in human impacts on wildlife. 

Our Creative Inquiry’s outings and research was led by graduate student Nathan Weaver.  We started out having weekly meetings that focused on gathering background information and learning about salamander ecology.  We would read and discuss different scientific journals that we found on stream ecology, amphibian ecology, and impacts of urbanization. Reading journals helped us get prepared for field work and helped us to understand the proper way to set up a research project.   After we were well versified we picked out streams within the Clemson area to start sampling in.  We had one control and four urban sites. 

Most people do not know what exurbanization is. Well, exurbaniztion is when people from an urban area move to a rural area but still continue with an urban lifestyle.  When people move to rural areas they usually don’t realize the impacts they can have on the environment.  Ecosystems are very sensitive and one change can completely alter the makeup of an ecosystem.  Constructing houses in rural areas can result in increases in sedimentation, erosion, salinity, and fertilizer pollution in the local streams.  Debris and litter also start entering an ecosystem when is becomes urbanized.  All of these things in large quantities can be detrimental to amphibian populations and their development. 

Salamanders are amazing in the fact that they are indicators for a healthy ecosystem.  Salamanders have permeable skin that allows oxygen and other biological components to enter and exit their bodies constantly.  This is a perfect survival tool in wet environments but it also makes them extra susceptible to being impacted by pollutants and climate change.  For this reason, healthier streams usually have a higher diversity and number of salamanders.  Salamanders are very important to a balanced ecosystem, because they keep the insect and arthropod populations balanced.  Salamanders are a dominant keystone predator and it is very important that we do everything in our power to protect them. 

For my research I looked into water quality and its effects on the number of salamanders within a stream.  From going out in the field, and the research I have conducted, it is clear that salamander populations are impacted by the water quality in their ecosystem.  In all the exurban streams there were huge amounts of litter all throughout the water and along the banks.  From our data it is not clear how much salinity, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH and water temperature affect populations, but hopefully once more data is collected next semester there will be a better indicate on of how populations are being impacted.  Even though there are not conclusive results from our data yet, other literature has made it clear that good water quality is essential for a healthy salamander population.  Next semester I would really like to look into the amounts of litter in each stream and see if that has any effects on salamander populations and diversity. 

This creative inquiry has given me very valuable field experience and helped me learn how to conduct research.  In the world of Wildlife and Fisheries Biology it is very important to not only have good academics but to also have a lot of field experience.  From personal experience I can tell you that I have learned more through field work than I have in my classes.  You can learn about techniques all day, but you will never fully understand them until you get the hands on experience. Creative inquiries in general teach you a hard work ethic and give you a chance to do something you are passionate about. 

I am excited to continue my work with salamanders and learn even more from this CI.  I am very thankful to have found a CI that helped me discover my passion for salamanders and their role they play in the natural world.  The wildlife in this world play a vital part in our survival.  It is essential that we love and respect the earth and all the plants and animals that abide there.  Hopefully this Creative Inquiry and our research can help us to communicate and educate the public, so that they can help in the restoration and protection of salamanders. 

Our changing streams

The following is guest post by Maddy Feiste, a freshman at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

We may not always realize it at first glance, but the natural world is always changing; little by little, and over long periods of time, but it is changing nonetheless, and a lot of that is completely natural. However, as people with growing needs, desires, and technological advancements, we are changing the land around us faster than ever before and some of the first places affected by these changes are streams.

My name is Maddy Feiste and I am a freshman student at Clemson University participating in the creative inquiry Landscape Ecology of the Appalachia. In this program, a handful of us undergraduate students are working under graduate student Nathan Weaver to study the effects of urban  development on stream health. More specifically, we’re looking at the populations of salamanders that live in those streams. Salamanders are an important part of the ecosystem in that they are the main predators of insect larvae that grow and mature in streams. They’re very effective keep insect populations under control by reducing the number of larvae that survive to adulthood. Salamanders are also important to us because many species serve as indicators of water pollution. For example, a healthy stream will show many different species of salamanders, while a polluted stream may only show one species of a highly tolerant salamander, or even no salamanders at all. By surveying salamanders in various streams, we can develop a good understanding of the stream’s overall health and the effects that nearby exurbanization may be having on the water quality.

Fortunately for us, the southern Appalachian Mountains are a biodiversity hotspot for salamanders, making it the perfect place for us to study these valuable organisms. The same mountains, however, have been an increasingly popular tourist destination spot for people seeking what they consider to be the ideal getaway that brings them closer to nature. This idea of the peaceful mountain getaway may at first seem harmless or even beneficial, but the development involved brings us right to the problem of exurbanization. Exurbanization is a form of low-density development similar to urban sprawl. In exurbanization, houses and businesses are built farther apart in order to provide a more secluded feeling for the people living there, while still providing the services and amenities that would be available to them in a larger city. All of this widespread development can seriously endanger streams in the region by filling them with sediment from construction, as well as runoff from roads and fertilized landscaping. This semester we went on multiple sampling trips locally in order to assess how this type of development affected the streams in and around Clemson.

           

When gathering our data we began by testing the water quality in the streams, measuring dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH, temperature, and conductivity. We then moved on to survey the stream morphology, noting what percent of streambed was rock, gravel, pebbles, or sediment. This data became especially important to me as we developed our own personal projects. My particular topic has come to be streambed morphology and how salamander species abundance varies according to substrate differences between streams. As we continued to sample this semester, two important differences became clear in urban versus control streams, and that was that the urban streams had a high percentage of sediment, while our control streams located in the Clemson experimental forest almost always contained less sediment and more rock and gravel. The control streams also exhibited higher diversity of salamander species than the urban streams, as opposed to the urban streams, where we only ever found the very hardy southern two-lined salamander. Knowing this, I wanted to investigate more into why sediment bottom streams harbor fewer salamanders than rocky-bottomed ones. It may be that the more uniform sediment provides less habitat for salamanders and their prey than layered pebbles and rocks would, but only more research will tell for sure.

I’m very excited to continue this creative inquiry into next semester and gain a greater understanding of the relationships that salamanders share with their physical environment. Sedimentation is a well-known problem for streams and in many cases has been known to completely fill in streams so that they no longer exist. Runoff and storm water management are both environmental issues that I am passionate about and that I would like to continue to investigate further with this project. I think that next I would like to compare a stream near a town using conventional storm water management practices to a stream from an area using more sustainable practices. It would be interesting to see if there are very significant differences in the salamander diversity of the different locations. I look forward to writing about more of my findings in the coming spring!

Effects of urbanization on streams and salamanders

The following is guest post by Bonnie Miller, a junior at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

My name is Bonnie Miller and I am currently a Junior at Clemson University. I recently switched my major from Biosystems Engineering to Conservation Biology. After this switch I wanted to make connections within my new field and also figure out what real-world situations I might be interested in. At the recommendation of my advisor, I registered for a Creative Inquiry called “Landscape Ecology of Appalachia” which focuses on the effect of urbanization on streams and more specifically how salamander abundance and diversity may be affected.

A large portion of the class consists of excursions out in the field to gather data. Besides sampling a variety of streams for salamanders, we take other data such as the salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen content, and pH of the stream water. We take note of the canopy cover and streambank vegetation among many other pieces of data.

While a large part of the course is field work, there is also a personal project component. My project is on Basal Area and how it might be related to the salamander diversity of streams. Basal Area is an estimate of the amount of an area that is occupied by trees. With this information, you can get an idea of the canopy cover, light levels, and overall composition of the forest surrounding a stream. Typically the higher the Basal Area, the more adult trees there are in the area and the more shade present.

At every site we visit, we use a wedge prism tool to calculate the Basal Area for the land surrounding the stream. Along with this data, I am also looking at the diversity of salamanders we catch when we sample the stream. We identify each salamander and note whether it is an adult or larvae. I’d like to compare the Basal Area to the number of species of salamanders that were caught and also the number of Southern Two Lined salamander larvae that were found.

What can be learned from this? Well, salamanders have long been used a indicators of stream health. If the natural state of a stream has been altered (as it often is by urban development) salamander populations can show that. Salamanders are sensitive to disturbances in their ecosystem and have a large role that they play. Through looking at the number of species and which specific species are present, you can gather information on the overall health of the stream.

Basal Area is a good indicator of the health of the land directly surrounding the stream. Within areas of urbanization, the forest usually has been disturbed, which would result in a lower Basal Area. Though the urbanization may have initially occurred many years ago, it takes an immense amount of time for a forest to reach the same level health-wise as it was before the disturbance of urbanization.

Luckily, there has been a recent movement to pay more attention to the environment and reduce the negative effect that humans may impose on their surroundings. This Creative Inquiry and my personal project relate directly to those issues. The first step to solving these problems that humans may be creating in nature is figuring out what those problems are. Through research we can see what human or natural factors are altering the ecosystem and what we can do to maintain the balance. This balance is so very precarious and tweaking one small factor may tip the entire scale. Overall urbanization is spreading rapidly and the effects of this development may not be considered before it occurs. It is tremendously important to be aware of the delicate balance that is our natural world and to do what we can to prevent a negative impact on our precious planet.

Stream food webs in an altered environment

The following is guest post by Briana Cairco, a freshman at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

My name is Briana Cairco, I’m a freshman wildlife and fisheries major and entomology minor at Clemson University in South Carolina. This semester I’ve have the wonderful opportunity to take a Creative Inquiry class studying the effects of exurbanization on salamanders in Appalachia. As you may or may not know, the Appalachian Mountains are home to more species of salamander than any other place on earth, so there is no better place to study salamanders than in our own backyard.

So, what is exurbanization? Exurbanization is basically urban sprawl, people like having the amenities of the city, but want to live in a more rural area. So, land outside of cities is developed to provide easy access to the city, and a more natural environment to live in. This process may be the best of both worlds for humans, but these exurban communities can decimate the ecosystem they’re in. These communities may not seem so bad at first glance, but when you consider the sedimentation from the construction, the runoff from fertilized lawns, the increased salinity from road salt, and so many other factors that impact the streams, the threat these communities pose to amphibians is very real. Our goal this semester is to sample streams with a varying exposure to these developments in order to determine the effects exurbanization has on the salamander population as a whole.

Within our group each person is conducting his or her own research on a related topic. I chose to research the relationships between species of macroinvertebrates and species of salamanders. I will be using the salamander data we get and collecting data on the variety of invertebrates and looking at any correlation between the two. Salamanders are the top predator in these streams that we are examining, so when their populations suffer it is safe to assume that the invertebrate community will change as well. Either they will increase because they aren't being hunted, or they will decrease because whatever is threatening the salamanders is threatening them too.

Certain species of both invertebrates and salamanders are more sensitive to environmental changes. When we look at the data between sites with different water quality readings it would be interesting to see if any of the species seem to be sensitive to particular variables. Between sites with similar water quality, results may show which invertebrate and salamander species have interdependent relationships. There are so many variables in these sites that it could be hard to say whether particular species have a special relationship, but it would be really interesting if for example, sites with caddis fly larvae as the predominant invertebrate also seemed to have the most black belly salamanders. Maybe this study could show if the salamanders have a favorite food, or it could just show which invertebrate and salamanders have similar habitat preferences.

The task is a little daunting since there are so many things out of our control, the invertebrate populations will be affected by the season, so I will have to take into account the breeding period for the species we find.  Also, the size of invertebrate is important a small stream could support thousands of tiny stonefly larvae, but obviously not as many hellgrammites. So instead of just comparing the numbers, I’ll need to compare changes in species abundance between sites.

I will be using this identification key from Auburn University to identify the invertebrates by order, then by their feeding group. There are four feeding groups; shredders, which rely on dead plant and animal material, scrapers/grazers, which eat living plant matter and algae, predators, which eat other invertebrates, and collectors/filterers, which filter fine material from the water.  Most stone fly larvae are shredders, except for families Perlidae, Chloroperlidae, and Perlodidae which are predatory, and have obvious physical differences. The mayfly larvae we will encounter will be collectors, except for family Heptageniidae which are scrapers, and are also easy to differentiate because they appear to have no head.  The caddis fly larvae are more difficult to differentiate so since the majority of species are scrapers, any caddis fly larvae will be classified as a scraper. The megalopterans (like hellgrammites) are predators; as are both dragonfly and damsel fly larvae. I think these feeding groups will be helpful in connecting stream quality and both salamander and invertebrate abundance.

I’m really excited to start sampling, and I haven’t seen any articles about the relationships between certain invertebrates and salamander species yet, so I have no idea what to expect.

Moving from the classroom to the field

The following is guest post by Will Gallman, a freshman at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

I am a freshman studying in the field of Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. The Landscape Ecology of Appalachia creative inquiry (CI) interested me because it seemed related to some of science fair projects I completed in high school, and because I was ready to start learning applicable field techniques. The research we are doing as a whole is designed to see how the long term effect of ex-urban development in the mountains is affecting salamander populations in first order streams. Each student also has an individual research project that we are to complete alongside the main research. My individual project, will be determining whether elevation influences the relative abundance of salamanders.

So far for most of this course, because of cold weather, we have been reading and discussing existing research papers. I have benefited greatly from this, because I have learned research methods along with a plethora of things about salamanders and other amphibians. These papers also have helped us narrow the topics for personal research. The research topic I chose didn’t directly relate to any of the papers, but the papers offered ideas on the types of research that can be done.  

I originally had a couple of different ideas for research but narrowed it down to studying how elevation influences the abundance of salamanders. During a summer ecology experience, I went on a trip where we learned about and caught terrestrial salamanders. I learned, based on the elevation, certain species of salamanders are more commonly found. From this information, along with recent research, I developed my topic. Knowing that certain species are more common based on elevation I wanted to see if elevation influenced the relative abundance. I will gather the elevation data of the testing sites from the GIS mapping system, and determine the abundance from the actual amounts and species of salamanders found in the field work. Currently, I do not have enough data to make any predictions because we have only sampled two locations.

We recently went on a weekend trip to sample test sites in Highlands, North Carolina. I learned about different factors that can influence data collection, the methods used in the research, and learned both salamander and vegetation identification. The weather conditions that we experienced on this trip were far less than ideal. One of the sampling days it rained and was overcast; leading to low visibility and detectability. It also increases the water level and stream flow. The second day we did not sample due to snow being on the ground. In addition to looking for salamanders at each site, we also measure the pH, conductivity, temperature, vegetation, stream bed composition, and percent undercut banks. All of these variables are measured within each five meter sampling stretch, which are separated by ten meter resting periods. In my personal research project I will also record the elevation of the test site, calculate the relative abundance at each site, and analyze the data in order to make a conclusion on my personal research project.

This Creative Inquiry provides undergraduates with an opportunity to participate in field research that may not be done in classes. The personal projects give us the opportunity to design and conduct our own research, which is a very important skill in the Wildlife and Fisheries Biology field. I have learned much more actually going out in the field and doing things related to this class than I have in a lecture. This class gives us the opportunity to apply methods learned in class to the field: an imperative skill to have when entering the professional world. 

Salamanders and Exurbanization

The following is guest post by Kevin McLeroy, a senior at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

After two months of participation in Clemson’s Creative Inquiry project on salamanders, I have learned exactly how much work goes into designing a research project. These first weeks spent on this project have been dedicated to developing an understanding of why salamanders are important to our ecosystems, how they can indicate the quality of the environment they live in, and what effects humans can have on them.

Our group’s research, directed by Clemson University graduate student Nathan Weaver, focuses on the effects of urbanization on the populations of salamanders. Our weekly meetings have focused on other research projects related to salamanders, such as what kind of stream habitats they prefer, the effects of buffer zones around the streams they live in, and effects of UV radiation on amphibian eggs. Reading and discussing these papers not only gave us some background information about amphibian ecology, but they also gave us an understanding of the details involved with designing a research project. Besides the actual field research, you have to find your research sites, get permission from landowners to use the sites, and make sure they are suitable for your project.

The main reason that salamanders are so intriguing is their ability to indicate the state of the environment. Salamanders are useful in this regard because their skin, like most amphibians, is very permeable, which means that chemicals from the surrounding environment will get into their bodies more easily. In addition to their permeable skin, salamanders also live 8-10 years, so they can show the long term environmental history of their habitat. Because salamanders live in aquatic habitats, they are directly affected by changes in water temperature, depth, and pollution.

On March 1, 2014, our group went with Nathan to inspect some of the field sites. Before the trip, Nathan used GIS to find first order streams located within these exurban developments. It was an all-day adventure spent driving around the Highlands, North Carolina area where a good amount of the field sites are located and making sure they are suitable. Unfortunately some of the sites we had planned to use were unavailable because they were located on private roads. It was important to make these trips in advance of our research because if the majority of the field sites were unsuitable, then our research would not be credible.

Our first sampling trip did not go as we had planned. The heavy rain in Highlands, North Carolina went on for most of the day, which decreases the detectability of the salamanders. Because salamanders live in aquatic habitats, they are more likely to hide in the event of rain as to not be swept away by the current. However, we sampled one stream and found barely any salamanders, but another stream we sampled yielded many Blue Ridge Two-Lined Salamanders. These salamanders are better adapted to lower levels of dissolved oxygen, so they persist in urbanized streams. However, the fact that only one species was detected speaks to the lack of species diversity caused by exurbanization.

Everyone has different ways of loving nature, and increasingly more people are flocking to private mountain communities with stunning views and beautiful golf courses. However, most people living in these communities do not realize the impact that their homes are having on the environment. These communities have changed the landscape, and we will see the effects of this in the coming years.  

For my personal project within the creative inquiry, I wanted to focus on the direct effect that water quality would have on the populations, but I have reconsidered and now want to address stream composition. When these communities are built, actions are taken to alter the direction of stream flow, which results in undercut banks, different stream bed composition, and different vegetation around the bank. Since salamanders prefer to live under rocks on the stream bed, I would like to see what effects the redirection of streams has on the abundance of species.

I am excited for all of the future sampling trips and continuing to learn more about the effects of exurbanization on salamanders!

What this Creative Inquiry Means to Me

The following is guest post by Meghan McDevitt, a junior at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

Every summer, my family would pack into our car and drive ten or so hours to the Appalachian Mountains. North Carolina is where I spent my childhood when I wasn't in Pennsylvania. I have such a love for this place and all of the diverse wildlife. The mountains seemed to come alive when we would go out hiking or rock hopping, and I was mesmerized by the amount of rainfall every summer. Starting at a young age, my brothers introduced me to the world of amphibians and aquatic insects. We would spend all day looking for big salamanders and "crawdaddys," enjoying all that nature had to offer. This passion for the outdoors has been carried throughout my life and has led me to where I am today: in a science-based major, studying salamanders and ecology in my free time. Going to the mountains feels like going home and I get to do this with an awesome creative inquiry.

My interest was enhanced when I entered middle school. When most were taking normal classes with all the other students, I was with 40 sixth and seventh graders in a program called Streamwatch. This was a two-year curriculum for those passionate about the sciences. We got to learn about watersheds, plant life, invertebrates, and various information about stream studies, as well as course subjects. This was heaven for me; I got to spend two years with such interesting students, dressing up as caddisflies and mayflies, changing fish tanks, and best of all, studying streams. Every other week, we took trips to our local watershed system and performed fieldwork in the streams. This was my first experience with hands on research and I loved it. While everyone else was a bit hesitant around the worms and larvae, I was immersed in the algae and macro invertebrates. It wouldn't be a field trip if I didn't come home covered in algae and dirt. The data collected went to the Chester County Parks system, and we'd collect all sorts of information from stream flow to pH and salinity. This is what sparked my interest in stream ecology.

The passion for science continued throughout my school years, resulting in me taking biology twice in high school (just because I enjoyed it so much) and being a teacher's assistant for biology. Coming to Clemson, I knew I wanted to be doing hands on research and be active in the field. Though I got off course switching from Biological Sciences to Engineering, I got right back on track Sophomore year changing to ENR: Conservation Biology. This is exactly what I can see myself doing in the future and is right up my ally. When I heard about this creative inquiry, it was like stepping back into my six year old self. I was ecstatic to be working with salamanders in the mountains, fusing both my passions and interests into one course. So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed the class. The students are all open-minded, interesting, and nice people. We work well together and can get things done while still having fun. Going out to sites is also such a great experience because we get a feel of what it's like to perform research in the field. This creative inquiry has opened my eyes to all sorts of topics to work in and I am so thankful for the opportunity. I love being able to use my plant taxonomy skills and acquire even more knowledge about wildlife biology, stream ecology, and the Appalachians. I am looking forward to the more semesters to come with this class as well as the research over the summer. This is such an interesting research topic and I will definitely apply it to real life situations, for example, reminding my family about this issue and making changes at our mountain house to prevent any more damages.

Why we protect our amphibians

The following is guest post by Randi Sims, a sophomore at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

Today in our society whenever an environmental topic appears in conversation it always seems to be followed by the words: “global warming” or “fossil fuels”. Very few times, if ever, does the general public talk about the issues facing wildlife or, more specifically, amphibians. If these people are not discussing problems with amphibians it’s also a pretty safe bet that they are not saying anything for an even more specific amphibian: a salamander.

My name is Randi Sims and I am part of a diverse group of individuals at Clemson University who are trying to give these creatures their voice in our world. This group is a Creative Inquiry class specifically focused on how exurbanization (or the movement of individuals from a more populated to a less populated area) in the Appalachian Mountains is affecting salamanders. Each one of us are developing and researching our own questions regarding amphibian and stream conservation. It is through this that we hope to make a difference in the way exurbanization is conducted.

Before describing my own project, I feel that it is necessary to give a little background on salamanders. As an environmental science major I have always heard of these little creatures, but never truly understood what their influence was on the environment or why they were of such importance to stream ecology. The honest truth is that this is one of the first things I should have known going into my major. For those of you who are unaware of how an ecosystem works, this is the simplest explanation I can give: it’s very much like a house, it takes many sturdy parts to build a strong, sound structure. Each organism down to the smallest micro invertebrate is a like a brick to that house, and once you take one brick out it becomes much less stable, threatening to fall. In this comparison, the streams are like this house and the salamanders in it are the foundational bricks. By taking them out, almost every thing else collapses around them.

Salamanders are not only important to the stream ecosystem, but also to our own lives. One of the things many individuals who live near watersheds find to be an issue is a large mosquito population. While this may not seem like too much of a problem, it is a large annoyance to many people and even a safety concern when taking into account diseases like Malaria. Scientists Robert Brodman and Ryan Dorton have quantified the affect that salamanders have on the populations of these insects around riparian habitats. In their research, they discovered that one particular type of salamander (the Tiger salamander or Ambystoma tigrinum) removes 144 mosquitos for every one salamander larvae (2011). Seeing that one clutch of salamander eggs can contain as many as fifty viable larvae, this can mean a lot of mosquitoes are being removed by these amphibians, keeping their population size in check (Gopurenko, Williams, McCormick, DeWoody, 2006).

As you can see, these are just two of the ways that salamanders impact both the ecosystems and our own lives. Unfortunately, though, we are also impacting them, but not in a good way. In developing my project I have learned that there are a lot of factors in exurbanization that threaten delicate ecosystems in these areas and the organisms in it; specifically our amphibian friends. My project looks in detail at one aspect of it: stream flow. While it may seem like something that means little to nothing to the average person, all of the debris, sediment, and trash building up in the streams from construction are causing huge changes in this factor. It is my goal of this experiment to look at specifically how their young are being affected by a change in stream flow. To me this is one of the most interesting and maybe even important parts of the overall question of affects of exurbanization, however as my classmates can concur, it is only one side effect of what we are starting to see is a much larger issue.

Throughout the course of this creative inquiry class my peers and I hope to make a real difference in the lives of these creatures and, consequently, our own. We are only halfway through the semester and already forming our projects, as well as preparing for even more in-depth research. All of us are extremely excited about this class and our progress in it, and hope to keep you posted on our upcoming experiments!

Salamander conservation in the Appalachian Mountains

The following is guest post by Debbie Jacobs, a senior at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

I am a junior at Clemson University majoring in Environmental and Natural Resources-Conservation Biology. I have always been fascinated by nature and have had this urge to help in any way possible to keep it flourishing. I am currently in a Creative Inquiry that is focused on observing and collecting data on the influence of land use disturbance on stream salamanders.

The Southeastern United States contains the greatest biodiversity of salamanders in the world. Most live in wetlands occupying streams, pools of water, and rivers at various temperatures all over the world. Salamanders use cutaneous gas exchange, which means they breathe through their skin; this makes them a good indicator species since they need high levels of dissolved oxygen content in the streams they occupy. If salamander populations are decreasing in an area where they were once abundant then it could indicate environmental pollution.  An increase in local human disturbance could be a cause in this increase of pollution. As urbanization and expansion of development increases, debris and litter enter straight into streams altering its composition and therefore directly effecting the population of salamanders living in that stream. Many salamander populations are being harmed and even destroyed from habitat loss and water pollution. Many wetlands are being destroyed for the new development of towns. Around 40% of salamanders are considered to be threatened in North America. They are also over-collected for the pet trade that is making salamanders even more vulnerable. 

Urbanization in Highlands NC is booming because people love the nature that surrounds that area and everyone wants to see those mountainous views. Such amenities lure people in from all over for either a vacation-get-away home or retirement home, and small businesses are taking advantage of this up-and-coming community and moving in to cater to the upper-class desires. My Creative Inquiry group spent the weekend in Highlands collecting field data from two sites, a stream within the urban area in the heart of downtown and the other stream secluded in the Highlands Botanical Garden (used as the control group). We sampled water from each site and collected water temperature, salinity, water pH, percent dissolved oxygen, and conductivity. After recording the data we sampled for salamanders, in the urban stream we found 4 salamanders total and 4 different species. In the controlled less disturbed area we found 25 salamanders total and 7 different species.

From my personal experience in collecting field data it is very clear that urbanization directly influences salamander population and diversity. Conservation of this species is very important. Salamanders play a very significant role in the ecosystem, such as breaking down organic matter for other small organisms and for the soil where trees take up the nourishment. One valuable benefit to humans is the medical research that is being conducted on this species to study the regeneration of tissue. It is not too late for the salamanders; wetlands can be restored and protected from development. Better communication with the public can be a great start in sustaining these creatures. 

How does water pollution affect the size of salamanders?

The following is guest post by Randi Sims, a freshman at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

I am enrolled in a Creative Inquiry course at Clemson University in which the question asked in the creative inquiry I am apart of has to do with is how the movement of human populations to a less developed location (ex-urbanization) effects salamanders. I specifically have questioned if salamander sizes vary due to the presence of toxic substances in the stream. Or, if these organisms simply vary in size due to their own individual growth rates.

In answering these two questions, the effect of common pollutants on salamanders must be identified. Because the majority of salamanders (at least the ones most common) at our field sites are lungless (family Plethodonitdae), their ability to absorb oxygen through their skin is pertinent to their survival (Pauley, 2010). As a result, the species needs clean, cool water for maintaining healthy populations. Without both of these criteria being met, they are unable to “breathe”. What are some factors that could keep them from being able to absorb this oxygen? Stream pollution is an obvious one. As Purdue University has discovered: with excess amounts of nitrogen or phosphorous in the stream, the amount of oxygen available depletes (“Water Quality”). This occurs because of the reaction between nitrate molecules and oxygen molecules; as well as phosphorous molecules and oxygen molecules. Both of these factors can accelerate plant growth and lead to oxygen deprivation in streams through photosynthesis.

As observed by Rex Springston of the Richland Times, a specific type of salamander called the Hellbender that relies solely on its ability to absorb oxygen through its skin, has been quickly disappearing throughout regions in the southeast. Springston (2013) interviewed various scientists throughout the state of Virginia who have observed this anomaly. The majority of those interviewed agreed that pollution as well as global warming caused by pollution has influenced the amount of Hellbenders seen in their state.

What does this have to do with the growth rate of salamanders you may ask? As discovered by Wood and Orr there is direct correlation between the size of the salamander and its oxygen intake (1967). The larger the amphibian, the more oxygen it will require. Therefore, it can be assumed that a larger salamander would be unable to survive in locations that more pollutants and less oxygen were present.

Throughout the course of this semester our class will be capturing and studying various salamander species that have felt the strong effects of pollution through ex-urbanization. It is obvious that the Hellbender alone is not a good enough reference to fully confirm or deny my hypothesis; this is where collecting a variety of species will become pertinent to this project. Because sampling sites will be in more mountainous regions, the types of salamanders observed will most likely include: black-bellied salamanders, shovel-nosed salamanders, and a variety of other mountain and stream-dwelling species. When collecting these species, I would like to identify and measure them to determine how each specific type has faired against the adversities of pollution and ex-urbanization. It is my hope that by the end of this creative inquiry, both my classmates and I will be more knowledgeable about exactly what effects ex-urbanization has on salamanders.

Works Cited

"Eastern Hellbender Fact Sheet." Department of Environmental Conservation. NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.

"Hellbender." EDGE of Existence. The Zoological Society of London, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

"Water Quality." Water Quality. Purdue University, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Carter, Ed. "Tennessee Wildlife Resources AgencyEd Carter, Executive Director." Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.

Furuseth, Owen. "Rural Housing Exurbanization and Amenity-Driven Development: Contrasting the 'Haves' and the 'Have Nots' (Google EBook)." Pg 122. Google Books. Google, 2011. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.

Hammerson, Geoffery, and David Beamer. "Plethodon Jordani." IUCN Red List. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.

Pauley, Thomas K. "Salamanders of West Virginia." www.wvdnr.gov. N.p., 04 Dec. 2010. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

Springston, Rex. "Salamanders’ Disappearance Raises Pollution Concerns." Earth First Newswire Salamanders Disappearance Raises Pollution Concerns Comments. Richmond Times, 27 June 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.

Wood, Stephen C., and Lowell P. Orr. "Effects of Photoperiod and Size on the Oxygen Consumption of the Dusky Salamander, Desmognathus Fuscus." The Ohio Journal of Science 69 (1969): 122. The Ohio State University Knowledge Bank. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

Salamanders, stream quality, and urbanization...OH MY!

The following is guest post by Amanda Williams, a junior at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

Why are salamanders so important?

They rock!

Seriously, they do. But let us go into more so of why they are so awesome.

Salamanders can be found in terrestrial and aquatic environments where they play a huge role in our ecosystem bio-web. Sure, sure, all animals play a role, but salamanders act as a top predator! I know. They’re what?! Yes, salamanders are dominant vertebrate carnivores. Their diets are variable depending on their range, but one theme prevails: they love macroinvertebrates! Insects, crayfish, arachnids, crustaceans, molluscs, and many other arthropods. Surprisingly I found that salamanders are considered as not only a top predator, but also a keystone predator. “Keystone species prevent dominant prey from monopolizing limited resources, thus allowing the coexistence of additional species and/or an increase in the evenness of prey species abundances within a community” (Menge & Freidenburg 2001). Who cares? You should. Salamanders’ keep arthropod populations in check and balance. Any overabundance of these species could have devastating effects on an array of things, including: destroying leaf litter, damaging plants and trees (leaves, roots, barks), bacterial and fungal spread, potential pathogens, pest infestations i.e. fleas, mites, mosquitoes, amongst many more. While everything plays a role in the bio-web, too much of anything is not a good thing in the animal kingdom. Salamanders regulate these for the betterment of that system.

Fortunately and conveniently, salamanders regulate others in their genera by competition and out-sourcing.  

Salamanders are top predators, but they are also prey to a variety of animals: birds, mammals, snakes, fishes, turtles, frogs, crayfish, predatory insects, and even other salamanders! I hope you can see the web building and becoming more complex.

Now unfortunately, 29% salamander populations are in peril; 13% are currently on the Endangered Species List. You haven’t already forgotten what I told you wouldhappen with an increase of macroinvertebrates, have you? Yes, let that sink in.

Now that you’re all “Let’s save the salamanders!” we can address a major issue that has dire consequences for all parties: Stream Quality! 

Why are some roundabout reasons you can think of as to why streams are important?

I’ll list a few:

·         Habitat for plant and animal species

·         Water quality

·         Degradation of pollutants

·         Organic matter processing

The habitat one seems obvious, right? How obvious though? Do you know how?

Streams are a unique environment and habitat; therefore, the animal and plant life that live around and/or in them have adapted unique characteristics to thrive in that environment. While some species are specific to streams, others are supported by it, including: bacteria, fungi, algae, higher plants, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals. That’s a pretty inclusive list! Many amphibians use the streams to lay their eggs in or around; some arthropods do also!

Since we’ve learned what salamanders feast on, let’s think about what their prey eat. If you said woody debris and leaf litter, then you are correct! That’s organic matter processing, one of the reasons why streams hold significance! When woody debris and leaves fall into streams, tiny organisms feed on it and help break it down so other arthropods can eat it, too, then salamanders eat them! We’re steadily building that web!

However, streams aren’t typically too large, and since salamanders have small bodies, they tend to be very vulnerable and alterable where anthropogenic matters are concerned. Yep, we’re talking about effects of urbanization now. Runoffs, impervious cover, habitat loss, invasive species opportunities, irrigation, pollution, compaction, etc. This may seem overwhelming when all you want to do is build a house with a nice view by a stream, but it’s even more overwhelming to the various species that called this area home before you did. I’m not going to advocate stop building houses, that would be ridiculous of me to say, but I do want to advocate awareness and accountability.

With the Internet conveniently surrounding us in our day-to-day lives, we have a huge resource of knowledge, the knowledge of what I just shared with you, as well as many, many others. But with that knowledge comes responsibility to act. We can no longer sit idly by watching ecosystems become decimated. We often get overwhelmed when we think of maybe saving the rainforest. It’s too far away, it’s going against corporations, it’s too much! But what we often fail to see is the ones right in our backyard—maybe it’s a stream.

How can you help you may wonder?

Be mindful. That is the best answer I can give you. Be mindful of what consequences your actions may hold for a community of animals smaller than you. Be mindful of organizations that support clean water and environmental protections, encourage local governments to be proactive in this.

Being at the top of the food chain, we so often forget that our actions may have severe implications to those that go unseen in our daily lives. Try to keep aware of that, and also never forget that we are a part of the bio-web too.

Shifting ecosystems

The following is guest post by Carson Langston, a senior at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

As society continues to grow and develop we face new challenges of conserving and protecting ecosystems throughout the world. Ecosystems are fragile and dynamic. There is no recipe to construct, maintain, or restore ecosystems, making conservation and preservation invaluable tools to steward the earth.  Even though we may never fully understand how development has shifted ecosystems we can observe the effects of our past actions and discern better plans for the future.  One amazing example of the effects of development over the past 300 years or so is documented in Mark Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands (1729-1747). Catesby describes salmon spawning and large numbers of bears coming to feast in a place that seems to be close to where Clemson is today.

As we look forward we are in need of indicators that provide signals as to the damage caused by development. Amphibians are one of the key pieces of evidence that we are able to use to measure the effects of development. Amphibians are such wonderful bio-indicators because they are relatively fragile.  Cutaneous respiration allows amphibians to exist within a unique niche of aquatic and terrestrial life, while this is an amazing feat it does not come without complications. Essentially breathing through their skin, amphibians are much more prone to changes in their environments. Changes in water temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and the presence of heavy metals have the potential to decrease the size of the niches that these animals fill.

While on a recent survey of salamanders at the Coweeta Biological Station in Western North Carolina I began to question the rates of habitat destruction in such a short period of time.  To see the effects of development across the world in the past 300 years is staggering. There are few places that we can travel to without seeing the effects of human’s work on this planet. With the population at such a high level and our habits of resource consumption at an all time high, there is an urgent need to understand all of the harmful effects development may cause to our ecosystems. Even in this remote location that we were surveying, the effects of shifting ecosystems were present.  During the survey, plant species were inventoried within their respective plots and these data were collected for analysis of the stream. While reviewing the data I started to question what changes have taken place here in the past 100 years and our data began to provide clues a shifting ecosystem. The American Chestnut is gone, 90% of the eastern Hemlocks that we inventoried were dead. This change is well documented throughout the Southeast and we know that the loss of these two dominant canopy trees can be attributed to by human activities.  Even though this is a broad and general example it provides clarity that our actions and decisions have great consequence. The cascading effects of losing two dominant canopy trees within such a small time has dyer consequences to life that requires such specific conditions for survival.

Thinking back to when Mark Catesby once explored this area we have to wonder that if our streams were in such wonderful conditions that allowed salmon to spawn this far north, what amphibians were in those streams and how many have we lost due to the effects of dams, pollution, and other activities of development.  With development rolling forward, will we adopt strategies that help us to invest in our limited resources for the future or will we continue to turn a blind eye. Man is capable of living more sustainable lifestyles and just as the cascading effects of a species loss works, increased implementation of sustainable development will yield results that we can be proud of.

I wonder why the verge of amphibian global extinction didn't make the front page news

The following is guest post by Debbie Jacobs, a senior at Clemson University enrolled in Dr. Barrett's Creative Inquiry course focused on amphibian conservation.

Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians, encompassing the organisms that most people would consider scary, slimy, scaly, or dangerous. However, I believe these creatures are among the most misunderstood. Amphibians are one of the most endangered vertebrate groups, and many species are at risk of extinction.

The global decline in the amphibians was first noticed by the scientific community in 1989 when the World Congressof Herpetology met to function as a voice for international herpetological issues in conservation. During which they discussed solutions to the rising global amphibian concern. Recent scientific findings have made progress towards understanding the reasons behind the amphibian global decline. The decline is a combination of many factors such as disease and environmental changes due to human activity. The common disease affecting most amphibians is the widespread invasion of the Chytrid fungus causing many of these mass extinctions. Scientists are trying to understand the full range of factors stressing these creatures to become more susceptible to the fungus, and acquire how the fungus can be stopped or mitigated. Recent monitoring efforts have been successful for Costa Rica’s very diverse amphibian population in understanding the declines and where the fungus will strike next. These efforts have helped significantly in the conservation of endangered amphibians in the Central American area.

Within Costa Rica, research and monitoring has shown that areas with lack of habitat deforestation but with an increase in climate temperatures within the last decade has been a strong environmental factor in the reduction of the quantity of  leaf litter essential to the habitat of amphibians of the area (Whitfield, 2006). Research to determine if Chytrid fungus can be implicated in the mass amphibian decline in Costa Rica found that the disease was in most areas at different altitudes before the mass declines of amphibian population took place (Puschendorf, 2006).  Other studies show that the areas where Chytrid fungus has been most detrimental are those areas with the most influence of human activity. Efforts to monitor the situation by predicting where the fungus will strike next have become a race against time as species numbers decline. Conservationists have had to resort to desperate measures to secure preservation of certain species by keeping some in captivity until the fungus can be eradicated out of the natural environment. As new techniques and procedures are developing to help assist scientists in understanding how to stop the fungus, the World Congress of Herpetology hopes to raise awareness of the importance of amphibians, and how they serve important ecological roles. These creatures are vital to the ecosystem and are good ecological indicators due to their high degree of sensitivity and their ability to respond to changes in the environment. These creatures deserve to be protected for generations to come. Of course, it starts with you.

Read the scientific facts:

1. Weldon C, du Preez LH, Hyatt AD, Muller R, Speare R. Origin of the amphibian chytrid fungus. Emerging Infectious Diseases [1080-6059]. Available from http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/12/03-0804.htm

2. Rosenblum E, Voyles J, Poorten T, Stajich J. The Deadly Chytrid Fungus: A Story of n Emerging Pathogen. PLoS Pathogens. [1000550].  Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2813266/

3. Whitfield S, Bell K, Philippi T, Sasa M, Bolaños F, Chaves G, Savage J, Donnelly M. Amphibian and Reptile declines over 35 years at La Selva, Costa Rica. JSTOR: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

4. Puschendorf R, Bolaños F, Chaves G. The Amphibian Chytrid Fungus along an Altitudinal transect before the first reported declines in Costa Rica. Biological Conservation. [132: 136-142]  Available from http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.clemson.edu/science/article/pii/S0006320706001133

Conservation research and education

"...I am large -- I contain multitudes." - Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman knew that he, and all of us, are complex beings full of internal inconsistencies and complexities. Conservation biology, as an academic discipline and in practice, is not that different from Whitman's observation about the human condition. It's a multifaceted, interdisciplinary arena for study and for action, and it necessarily contains multitudes. Conservation can mean conserving wild, untouched places but it can also refer to designed streams within an urban matrix that simply slow water down or process nutrients without offering much habitat to stream-dwelling species. At their core, all conservation actions are focused on increasing the ability for species, habitats, and processes that have existed to continue to exist in some context.

My lab at Clemson University focuses on a broad range of conservation issues that can be thought of under the umbrella of global change (large-scale issues such as urbanization, climate change, and others). I plan to use this space to discuss that research as well as other conservation-focused research the captures the broad range of studies and actions that make up conservation biology.

I am also active in involving students in studies of conservation and ecology. This blog offers an opportunity for me to discuss my experiences with those students, but it will also serve as a platform for the students to convey their thoughts and experiences. Toward that end, the first series of posts represent guest posts by seven students enrolled in my Creative Inquiry course. This course is focused on how landscapes affect amphibians, and the enrolled students are focusing on two primary issues: managed forests of the coastal plain and exurbanization in the Blue Ridge Mountains.