Herpetofauna Survey

CATALINA ISLAND CONSERVANCY

PROTECT

SINCE 1972

survey

Herpetofauna (‘herps’) – amphibians and reptiles – tend to be an understudied species. They are mostly small, cryptic, and active at night, so they are often overlooked. Plus, there’s the ‘ick’ factor.

“Especially for reptiles, there is a lot of learned fear for people when it comes to things like snakes and ‘creepy crawlies,’ which is really unfair,” said Conservancy Biologist Makenzie Henk. She spearheaded a herpetofauna survey this April that saw the whole conservation department looking for herps during a group workday, overturning rocks and replacing them to search for key species. The Conservancy also brought over herpetologist Jeff Lemm from San Diego Zoo to educate the crew on survey techniques and search locations. Conservancy biologists placed coverboards in key locations.

After the untreated plywood is left to weather for several months, scientists will check underneath and those locations will be included in surveys.

In the visual survey, we detected 10 species with 51 individuals. Those numbers don’t include the side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana elegans), of which we saw a few hundred, or Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris hypochondriaca) because they’re quite common. The most-identified species was the Western skink (Plestiodon skiltonianus) with 20 sightings, while the least was the Two-striped garter snake (Thamnophis hammondi) with two identifications.

“There were two species we were particularly interested in, and the Twostriped garter snake was one of them because it hadn’t been seen since 2018,” said Henk, who added that the two sightings give her hope that there is a relatively good population on the Island. Scientists also futilely kept an eye out for the Mountain kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata), which is a California Species of Special Concern and only has one confirmed sighting on Catalina decades ago.

Henk stressed the importance of continuing to study herpetofauna as they are good bioindicators of habitat health.

“Amphibians, like our salamander or tree frog, have porous skin that absorbs a lot,” she said. “If you have a die-off or a population isn’t doing well, it might be an indication of a toxin in the environment or something impacting them.”

We look forward to continuing to learn more about these ‘creepy crawlies’ on Catalina.