SREL Reprint #2444

Herpetofaunal diversity in coastal plain communities of South Carolina

Yale A. Leiden, Michael E. Dorcas, and J. Whitfield Gibbons

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802

Abstract: We conducted a herpetofaunal survey on an 8,000-ha tract of managed forest in the Lower Coastal Plain of South Carolina for purposes of documenting biodiversity and comparing herpetofaunal communities among habitats in different stages of forest management. Intensive sampling and numerous techniques (drift fences, pitfall traps, funnel traps, box traps, automated recording systems, coverboards, road surveys, calling surveys, minnow traps, and turtle traps) were used in addition to general sampling to record species presence. During the first two years of study 7,189 individuals of 72 species were recorded from the study area, including seven species listed as "Species of Special Concern" in South Carolina.

Keywords: Biodiversity; amphibians; reptiles; herpetofauna; forest management

SREL Reprint #2444

Leiden, Y. A., M. E. Dorcas, and J. W. Gibbons. 2000. Herpetofaunal diversity in coastal plain communities of South Carolina. The Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 115:270-280.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).