SREL Reprint #2916

Biotic Communities: Amphibians and Reptiles

Kurt A. Buhlmann1, Tracey D. Tuberville1, Yale Leiden1, Travis J. Ryan2, Sean Poppy1,
Christopher T. Winne1, Judith L. Greene1, Tony M. Mills1, David E. Scott1, and J. Whitfield Gibbons1

1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, PO Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802
2Butler University, Department of Biological Sciences, 4600 Sunset Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana 46208

Introduction: Since the establishment of the Savannah River Site (SRS), 103 species of amphibians and reptiles have been documented there (Gibbons and Semlitsch 1991; Frazer 1995; Gibbons et al. 1997). Extensive long-term research has been conducted on the herpetofauna of the SRS, largely by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Since the early 1990s, the U.S. Forest Service–Savannah River, the Westinghouse Savannah River Company, and their cooperators have conducted considerable herpetological research.

The location of the SRS on the Upper Coastal Plain physiographicprovince and its large variety of habitats allows a high diversity of herpetofauna. In addition, over the past fifty years, the SRS landscape has recovered from intensive agricultural use and is now reforested. Although not pristine, in need of restoration for certain habitats, and managed for timber products, the SRS has been spared from the residential, commercial, and agricultural development that has fragmented the surrounding landscape.

Amphibians and reptiles occur in all habitats on the SRS. Many common species occur over a range of habitat types and successional stages (Grant et al. 1994). Often species that are rare or in decline are restricted to specific habitats. Furthermore, although some snake and lizard species live only in terrestrial habitats, many amphibians and reptiles require both aquatic and terrestrial habitats to complete their life cycles (Bennett, Gibbons, and Franson 1970; Gibbons 1970; Gibbons and Bennett 1974; Semlitsch 1981; Gibbons, Greene, and Congdon 1983; Burke and Gibbons 1995; Pechmann 1995). Each of the 103 species of amphibians and reptiles on the SRS has its own habitat requirements, some of which we do not adequately understand.

The design of management strategies that will benefit amphibians and reptiles has been recognized as an essential conservation priority by Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC; Gibbons and Stangel 1999). The SRS National Environmental Research Park is in a unique position to lead in this effort. Few other locations in the southeastern United States provide the opportunity found on the SRS for long-term conservation, research, and management of a coastal plain amphibian and reptile assemblage.

This section will assess amphibian and reptile distributions on the SRS and report how both historical land use and current SRS management affects them. We provide information that will help manage, preserve, and enhance herpetofaunal diversity. For species that are rare or habitat specific, we provide distribution maps and specific information about their ecology and management needs. We present an evaluation of the commonness or rarity of each species occurring on SRS, following a model proposed by Rabinowitz (1981).

SREL Reprint #2916

Buhlmann, K. A., T. D. Tuberville, Y. Leiden, T. J. Ryan, S. Poppy, C. T. Winne, J. L. Greene, T. M. Mills, D. E. Scott, and J. W. Gibbons. 2005. Biotic Communities: Amphibians and Reptiles. pp. 203-223 In J. C. Kilgo and J. I. Blake (Eds.). Ecology and Management of a Forested Landscape: Fifty Years on the Savannah River Site. Island Press.

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