Indigo Magazine Issue 8 Winter 2018

Indigo

The Member Magazine of The Orianne Society

Issue 8 • Winter 2018

magazine

Herps in Extreme Environments Ectotherms at Elevation Winter Herps in the Northeast Barrier Island Beasts and Burdens Bellwethers of Changing Climates

Indigomagazine

staff

Christopher Jenkins Chief Executive Officer

Heidi Hall

Development Director

Houston Chandler

Longleaf Savannas Initiative Director

Brannon Knight

Ectotherms at Elevation

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Photo: Kameron Burgess

Longleaf Savannas Initiative Stewardship Coordinator

Ben Stegenga

Longleaf Savannas Initiative Field Technician

Jacob Barrett

Longleaf Savannas Initiative Field Operations Coordinator

Kiley Briggs Photo: Garret Langlois

Great Northern Forests Initiative Turtle Conservation Coordinator

Matt Moore

Longleaf Savannas Initiative Field Technician

Jonathon Bolton

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Photo: Dirk Stevenson

Charli Palmer

Photo: Kiley Briggs

Photo: Daniel Thompson

Program Manager

28 Barrier Island Beasts and Burdens

Photo: James Angley

Photo: Pete Oxford

Species Spotlight

Patty Li

Accountant

contributors

Dr. Kimberly Andrews Mr. Jim Angley Mr. Pete Oxford

issue

Indigo Magazine Issue 8, Winter 2017 Indigo Magazine is the member magazine of The Orianne Society and is produced, designed and edited by the staff of The Orianne Society.

Bellwhethers of Changing Climates

4

William Rodriguez

Conservation Communications Coordinator

Winter Herps in the Northeast

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Longleaf Savannas Initiative Field Technician

CONTACT

6 Member Spotlight

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44 Upcoming Events

The Orianne Society 11 Old Fruit Stand Lane, Tiger, GA 30576 706-224-1359 info@oriannesociety.org www.OrianneSociety.org

@OrianneSociety

Indigomagazine For most of us, we can remember the moments when our interest was piqued in conservation, environment, or reptiles and amphibians. For me, as a young child I spent a great deal of time out in nature and for most of my life have appreciated the importance of the environment. But it was later in life, while doing my undergraduate degree in New England, when my interest in wildlife turned into a lifelong fascination with reptiles and amphibians. I think it is important for all of us to keep a historical perspective on how our interests and passions develop throughout our lives.

This perspective gives meaning to the actions we take today, and for me it provides a solid base for my dedication to the conservation of reptiles and amphibians.

This volume of Indigo Magazine is dedicated to exactly the behaviors and adaptations that focused my overall interest in wildlife biology and conservation into an intense fascination with reptiles and amphibians. I remember about twenty years ago getting my first Peterson Guide for reptiles and amphibians. At times I would spend evenings, while my friends were out partying, reading through the guide and then getting up early to spend the next day out in the swamps at a nature area across from where I lived (Lake Fitzgerald in Florence, MA). I remember reading about Wood Frogs and how they dealt with extreme cold environments and then finding Wood Frogs breeding early in the spring, even seeing one hopping across the snow. I remember reading how Painted Turtles would often overwinter in their nests after hatching and emerge the following spring. I found a Painted Turtle nesting at the nature preserve and went back repeatedly in the spring but was not able to see emerging

message from our

CEO

Photo: Tammi Nowak

turtles. While I was learning all of this natural history in my “backyard”, I was also reading books such as Harry Greene’s Snakes: Evolution of Mystery in Nature and many books on reptiles of the desert southwest. Soon, I had purchased a plane ticket and was off to explore the desert southwest looking for animals that had clever adaptations for dealing with another type of extreme environment. So for me it was the fine-scale behavioral and physiological details of reptile and amphibian biology that raised my interests. After those days spent looking for reptiles and amphibians at Lake Fitzgerald, making my first trips to find distant exotic species, and pouring over books, the adaptations of large mammals just seemed so coarse and boring.

As you read this volume, I hope the complex “details” and adaptations of reptiles and amphibians to extreme environments helps pique something in you as it did for me many years ago. I also hope you can gain an appreciation for how tightly linked reptiles and amphibians are to the physical environment and thus the potential implications of climate change. I hope this volume inspires all of you to spend more time in nature. And lastly, I hope it inspires you to want to do more for reptile and amphibian conservation.

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SPECIES spotlight Indigomagazine

By Heidi Hall and Pete Oxford

Marine Iguanas Amblyrhynchus cristatus

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Charles Darwin described them as ‘Imps of Darkness’

From Pete Oxford: Marine Iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) are probably the I am fortunate to have worked in many of most quintessentially Galapagos species of them all. Endemic the world’s most pristine and remote wildlife to the archipelago it is the only true marine-going lizard and cultural destinations as a conservation photographer. Furthermore, to have my in the world. Although spread throughout the islands, the images appear in most of the western isles of Fernandina and Isabela are considered major magazines of the the ‘Marine Iguana Capital of the World’. world in the field; Although Charles Darwin described including National them as the ‘Imps of Darkness’ Geographic, BBC they are one of the highlight Wildlife, Time, species to be seen on a trip to International Galapagos. There is nothing Wildlife, quite as bizarre as snorkeling Smithsonian, with a Marine Iguana as it dives Geo, Nature’s Best, Terre below the surface of the frigid Sauvage, Outdoor waters of the west, to watch it graze Photo: Pete Oxford Photography, The underwater on the carpet of green Economist, Geographical, algae, perhaps while a penguin zooms past Ranger Rick and Airone. I have chasing fish. While waiting for the tide to drop (so as lived with my wife and partner Reneé Bish, to not have to dive so deeply) these incredible reptiles are as a resident of Ecuador for 31 and 24 years strewn over the shore, blending in with the dark basaltic rocks respectively. Together we have published like a living carpet at the feet of visitors, sunbathing to warm thirteen books, mostly on Ecuadorian themselves up before they venture to sea to feed. Often seen conservation themes. We work primarily on snorting concentrated salt from their nostrils, as they process conservation related subjects in the hope that the power of the image will help further such freshwater from the ocean in a specialized process of reverse efforts around the world. I was considered osmosis, they are well adapted for their marine niche. The

by Outdoor Photography magazine to be adults and juvenile Marine Iguanas occur on rocky coastlines among the top 40 most influential nature and intertidal zones while the adult females can be found photographers in the world and am a proud nesting as far as 2 km inland. Their breeding season is between Founder Fellow of the International League December and March and the nesting season between January of Conservation Photographers. In 2014 I and April. Males vigorously defend mating territories with trials was awarded Ecuadorian Photo Journalist of strength as they push each other using their ‘interlocking’ of the Year and in 2015 I was named Ranger head scales. Females then dig burrows up to 80cm deep in a Rick Photographer of the Year. I am a board soft substrate to lay 1-6 eggs. These burrows are defended for member of the marine conservation-based magazine SevenSeas and work in partnership a few days in an effort to stop other females excavating the with the Orianne Society. eggs while digging their own burrows. In some islands, notably Española and Florin males become very brightly colored red during the breeding season. One of the major threats to the Marine Iguana population is a bad El Niño event where their normal algal food species does not grow, the animals then starve en masse.

One of the best ways of coming face-to-face with Marine Iguanas is on a trip to Galapagos run by one of the ‘Friends of the Orianne Society’, Pete Oxford, a longtime resident of Ecuador and an ex Galapagos guide.

Marine Iguana underwater - Photo: Pete Oxford

Photo: Pete Oxford

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Indigomagazine

MEMBER spotlight

by Heidi Hall

Northern Red-Bellied Cooterc - NJ

Jim Angley

This winter we are putting the membership spotlight on our long-time supporter, Mr. Jim Angley. Based out of New Jersey, Jim has been a life-long herp enthusiast and part of the Orianne team since 2012. We caught up with Jim to talk about his passion for reptiles and amphibians – this is what we learned:

“As far back as I can remember I’ve

always had a deep passion for wildlife, especially reptiles and amphibians.

”

When people ask me why I like herps, I cannot explain it, they are a part of me and always have been. My love for these species has always made me want to learn more about the ecosystems that they live in and as I learn, it fuels my passion even more to be an all-around naturalist. When my two sons were growing up my wife and I would always take them out herping, canoeing, camping, and hiking. We took them to zoos and Natural History Museums. Now, as young adults, both of my sons have a passion for wildlife, conservation and the outdoors.”

Life-time dedication.

“Although I am a soon to be retired mailman of 34 years, besides taking care of my family, my off time has Why reptiles and amphibians? always been volunteering on projects in the herpeto“As far back as I can remember I’ve always had a deep logical field. I have participated in many turtle and salapassion for wildlife, especially reptiles and amphibians. mander projects in the state of New Jersey for the NJ 6 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG WINTER ISSUE 2018

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What is your favorite species and best memorable moment with herps?

“Asking me what my favorite reptile or amphibian is, is like asking me to name my favorite Beatles song?

It can’t be done......but as a “whole”, turtles and tortoises are my favorite. It’s so hard to name the single most memorable moment so I will name my top three: 1) Finding a Bog Turtle in the wild, 2) Watching a Green Sea Turtle lay her eggs on a black volcanic sandy beach in Costa Rica, and 3) Seeing a wild Galapagos Tortoise on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Islands.”

What is on your “to find” list?

1) Alligator Snapping Turtle, 2) Texas Tortoise (a quick trip to Mexico to see a wild Bolson Tortoise would be fantastic!), 3) Eastern Hellbender, 4) Rubber Boa, 5) Ringed Salamander.”

What inspired you to become a member of The Orianne Society?

“When I first read about The Orianne Society and how it came into being, I was hooked and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. The whole story of Dr. Kaplan and his daughter was inspiring. I enjoy reading about the different projects The Orianne Society works on. The Wood Turtle Project in Vermont is something I would love to do since I work with Wood Turtles in New Jersey. After reading about your Longleaf Pine work, I wanted to know more about this ecosystem. This past summer I had the privilege of getting a “crash course” on the Longleaf Pine ecosystem from Kurt Buhlmann and Tracey Tuberville in South Carolina and also got a tour of the Savannah Ecology Lab.”

Leopard Tortoise, South Africa

Jim with Indigo 1976

Non-game and Endangered Species Program as well as US Fish and Wildlife in New Jersey. I have volunteered my time at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in the Herpetology Collections Department. This past year I partnered with George Heinrich and Tim Walsh for the “Big Turtle Year”.

The Orianne Society’s Dirk Stevenson also participated in the Big Turtle Year Project. Outside the US, I’ve tagged Green Sea Turtles in Costa Rica, helped on genetic work done on Puff Adders and Berg Adders in South Africa, tracked Galapagos Tortoises in the Galapagos Islands and have attended many conferences as a long-time member of the Turtle Survival Alliance and Northeast Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (NEPARC). One of my “highlights” was visiting the home of Peter Pritchard’s Chelonian Research Institute and getting a personal tour by Peter Pritchard himself ! All of this work in the field has increased my knowledge of herps and given me exciting opportunities to work with many professional herpetologists.”

Well Jim, we hope to get you out soon with us in the Longleaf Pine ecosystem. From all of our staff, we thank you for your time and dedication to reptile and amphibian conservation and hope to have you on our team long into the future.

Members like Jim keep The Orianne Society functioning.

We are incredibly grateful to all of the members that have joined us for the conservation of reptiles and amphibians.

“This question could very well turn into a two page Become a member today by visiting: answer! I will keep it short, top five in the US are: www.oriannesociety.org/become-member ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG WINTER ISSUE 2018 7

Indigomagazine

Ectotherms at Elevation:

A Look at America’s Mountain Dwelling Herps

by Ben Stegenga

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Reptiles and amphibians are no strangers to harsh environments. They inhabit some of the world’s most forbidding landscapes. While mountains may not seem as harsh as desert lowlands or arctic tundra, they present their own specific challenges and extreme weather. The species that have successfully colonized these high elevation habitats, have done so via specific physiological adaptations and specialized behavior. And while there are amazing examples of species adapted to mountain life from all over the world, I’d like to highlight a handful of mountain-dwelling species native to the United States. This is far from a comprehensive list, but rather a brief playlist showcasing some of our more unique and iconic mountain herp species.

Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) - Photo: Daniel Wakefield

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Weller’s Salamander (Plethodon welleri) - Photo: Scott Bolick

Weller’s Salamander (Plethodon welleri)

In the eastern United States, salamanders are almost synonymous with mountainous habitat. The Southern Appalachians contain some of the highest salamander biodiversity on the planet. In fact, salamander ecologists have estimated the total salamander biomass in Southern Appalachian forests to exceed that of all other predators and most herbivores combined. With so many voracious mini predators patrolling the region’s streams and leaf litter, it’s hard to deny their important role in controlling invertebrate populations and serving as a vital energetic link in both aquatic and terrestrial food webs. Many of Appalachia’s salamanders are capable of living at high altitudes, particularly the Plethodontids. However, one of the more specialized species is the Weller’s Salamander, named after the young herpetologist, Hamilton Weller, who first discovered the species. Tragically he fell to his death on an outing to collect more specimens of this species.

This handsome salamander is small compared to many other members of the genus Plethodon, with a maximum length of just over 3 inches. They are typically

dark gray or black with brass or gold flecking on the dorsal surface that often merges to form large patches. The belly is typically dark with white speckles, but populations in the southwestern extent of its range tend to have uniformly dark venters.

Since this species has a fairly small range along the borders of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, and is typically found at elevations above 5,000 feet, it is restricted to only a handful of mountaintops. The elevation of these mountains allows for a transition from moist, hardwood-dominated forests to spruce-fir forests. It is in these evergreen communities where Weller’s Salamanders thrive. Although they can be observed actively foraging at night, most of their time is spent beneath leaf litter, logs, flakes of rock, and moist mats of moss. They are typically active spring through fall, and retreat underground during the winter, however, individuals can occasionally be found even while there is snow on the ground.

While this species can be locally abundant, being a mountain-specialist salamander has its disadvantages. Fir-spruce forests exist as high elevation islands, leaving specialist species with nowhere to go when faced with environmental change. Rising temperatures caused by climate change could reduce their geographic range by

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causing populations on mountains with lower elevations to blink out.

Another conservation risk to this species is the loss of high elevation fir-spruce forest communities via logging and acid rain pollution, which deteriorates the forest floor microhabitat.

The introduction of the balsam woolly adelgid, a small aphid-like insect native to Europe, has also taken a major toll on Frasier Fir forests with mortality rates over 90%. These “ghost forests” now allow more exposure to sunlight and wind, causing typically moist forest floors to dry out.

Sacramento Mountain Salamander (Aneides hardii)

While the Southwest is not known for its salamander diversity, it is home to a handful of species, most of which rely on mountaintop habitats. The Sacramento Mountain Salamander is one such species.

This dark brown climbing salamander is one of only three salamander species found in New Mexico, and only occurs in the Capitan, Sacramento, and White Mountains. It typically inhabits Douglas Fir and Engelmann Spruce-White Fir forests, but also occurs above the treeline at elevations as high as 11,700 feet. They are most commonly found on north- and east-facing slopes, utilizing rotting logs, loose bark, and rocks.

Since Sacramento Mountain Salamanders live at such high elevations, they are only active about 4 months out of the year (June-September). This abbreviated growing season causes late sexual maturity and a slow reproductive strategy. Mature females may only reproduce once every three years, laying an average clutch of 5 eggs in rotting fir or spruce logs. Like in other Aneides species, females will guard their eggs until they hatch.

Indigomagazine but often left floating in pools and lakes.

Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Rana muscosa) - Photo: Isaac Chellman

Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Rana muscosa)

The Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog is a medium-sized frog with a maximum length of 3.5 inches. Its coloration is fairly variable, ranging from yellow to brown to olive, with dark spots or markings that resemble lichen or moss. This resemblance to moss is how it received its species name mucosa which translates to “mossy” or “full of moss”.

As its name implies, the undersides of this frog’s thighs bear yellow or orange pigment. When these frogs are handled they will often emit a strong defensive odor that resembles that of garlic.

wasps, and dragonflies, which are hunted in an ambush type fashion.

Winters are likely spent at the bottom of frozen lakes and pools, however in years with high snowfall, they may only be active for three months out of the year. Once the snow melts, the frogs emerge to begin breeding. From beneath the water, males emit a raspy call followed by a loud woof to attract reproductive females. During amplexis egg masses are deposited and attached to vegetation in flowing water,

The Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog is currently federally listed as Endangered. Their range includes the southern Sierra Nevada and the mountains of Southern California, however up to 90% of historic populations have vanished.

Biologists estimate the total population to only be a couple thousand adults for the southern Sierra Nevada, and as low as 200 adults for all of southern California. The contributing factors include fire, drought, pesticide pollution, the introduction of non-native trout and American Bullfrogs, and chytrid fungus. Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog wetlands are typically fishless, so the non-native trout predated most of the slow-growing tadpoles, causing frog populations to crash and blink out. However, after fish began being removed from mountain lakes, some frog populations seemed to rebound. Chytrid fungus has probably been the biggest killer of Southern Mountain Yellowlegged Frogs in the last 40 years, and still remains a major threat today.

Yellow-legged Frogs persist at elevations much higher than most other North American anurans, in water bodies from 3,500 to over 12,000 feet in elevation.

Mountain creeks, streams, pools, and alpine lakes are preferred habitat, but they must be permanent to allow the slow growing tadpoles at least two years to develop and metamorphose. Adults rarely stray more than a few meters from water sources where they feed on a variety of invertebrates, including beetles, ants, Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) - Photo: Kameron Burgess

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Indigomagazine Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi)

While it doesn’t sport exaggerated horns to the degree some of its closest relatives do, the Greater Short-horned Lizard is nonetheless an impressive animal. It has the largest range of any American horned lizard species, ranging from Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada, south into Mexico.

It also takes advantage of an impressive suite of habitats, including shortgrass prairie, sagebrush, pinon-juniper, and high elevation spruce-fir forests. With the exception of the Pygmy Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma douglasii), it is our most cold tolerant horned lizard, residing in harsh mountainous habitat up to 11,300 feet, and remaining active in temperatures as low as 35° F. Adult Greater Short-horned Lizards display a wide variety of colors and patterns, ranging from almost uniform drab brown or gray to elaborately spotted patterns with splashes of orange, yellow, red, white, blue, and green. Body color will often closely correlate with the local soil and geology, giving P. hernandesi superb camouflage. The combination of their flattened body shape, cryptic patterning, and sporadic movement allows individuals to virtually melt into the substrate. While crypsis is their primary defense, Greater Short-horned Lizards have a few other tricks up their sleeves. They can inflate themselves with air, making themselves appear bigger and harder to swallow, especially for snakes. Orienting the cranial horns towards a potential predator or jabbing them can also thwart predation.

But when it comes to mammalian predators such as coyotes, foxes, and bobcats, they will resort to their wildest defensive tactic: ocular autohemorrhaging.

In simpler terms, a distressed horned lizard can restrict blood flow leaving the head, causing tiny blood vessels around

the eyelids to forcibly rupture. The result is a stream of blood that can travel up to five feet, and often into the antagonist’s face.

Predators are often temporarily confused by this, and the blood has properties that canid and felid predators find distasteful.

This species shows distinct sexual dimorphism, with males remaining much smaller than females. In typical horned lizard fashion, their diets consist primarily of ants, but they will also take advantage of other invertebrates, such as beetles, grasshoppers, and crickets. However, these other prey items are most typically consumed by female lizards, whose robust build makes tackling large prey easier.

As is typical in species living at high altitudes and in cold climates, Greater Short-horned lizards experience late maturity, with females not reaching sexual maturity until their third year. Unlike most other horned lizards that lay clutches of eggs, P. hernandesi gives birth to live young, with litter sizes averaging 16 neonates.

It is hypothesized that a viviparous reproductive strategy is advantageous at higher elevations where cold weather is likely. Eggs laid at high elevations would be more susceptible to succumbing to cold temperatures than embryos retained inside the mother.

Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)

It’s hard to think of mountains in the eastern United States without considering the Timber Rattlesnake. It is one of the most iconic snakes in the east, and was even proposed by Benjamin Franklin to be our nation’s symbol. Timber Rattlesnakes are one of the widest ranging snake species in North American, and could even be found historically from North Florida to Central Texas, to eastern Minnesota,

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and northeast into Southern Quebec and Ontario. It has since been extirpated from Canada and Maine due to habitat loss and human persecution, but it still hangs on in a few places in New England. With such a wide range, Timber Rattlesnakes are obviously not limited to mountain habitat, but they do feel right at home in the rugged topography and exposed rocky balds of the Appalachian Mountains. The portions of that ancient mountain range that remain intact serve as strongholds for this magnificent snake.

Timber Rattlesnakes are fairly large rattlesnakes that can reach lengths of six feet. However, mountain individuals usually max out just over four feet long.

Males attain larger body sizes than females. This is often the case in species where males engage in combat over access to females. Larger males typically get to breed more often, passing on their genes for larger body size. Coloration can vary drastically between geographic regions, but in the mountains Timber Rattlesnakes are often either mostly black, yellow, or some intermediate brown or olive, with dark chevrons down the back. Black phase Timber Rattlesnakes generally just occur in the mountains and are more common at higher latitudes. This dark coloration likely allows them to heat more quickly in colder climates. Like most ambush predators, Timber Rattlesnakes display remarkable crypsis when resting on the forest floor amongst leaf litter, vegetation, and woody debris. They become almost invisible to both their predators and prey.

After emerging from their winter den sites, Timber Rattlesnakes in the mountains spend most of their active seasons in habitat dominated by deciduous forests with full canopies. Most of their energy goes into seeking out choice hunting spots, where they set up an ambush

Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) - Photo: Chance Feimster

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The summer after a female has bred, she will seek out an exposed rock face on a south-facing slope, where she will spend the next couple months incubating her young. An optimum gestation site will consist of a thin slab of rock with a crevice or cavity beneath it that is large enough for the snake to fit into, but small enough to exclude potential predators.

The slabs must be a specific thickness and free of deep shade to allow it to heat up in the sun during the day and remain warm throughout the night. If a rock is too thick, it won’t maintain high enough temperatures. These gestation sites are critical to Timber Rattlesnake reproduction, because they allow females to effectively thermoregulate and provide protection for vulnerable new born snakes. Male and juvenile snakes will also periodically take up refuge in these crevices while they are preparing to shed their skin.

However, their stays are normally brief, and once they’ve completed their shed, they return to foraging in forested habitat.

Due to the nature of their cooler mountainous environment, Timber Rattlesnakes grow slowly, mature late, and reproduce slowly. Females may take five to ten years to reach sexual maturity, and then only reproduce every two to three years after that, depending on how quickly they can put on weight during off years. In times of drought, females may go as long as six years between litters. A litter consists of 6-18 neonates, but very

Photo: Ron Grunwald

along a fallen log or at the base of a tree.

They will often remain in those positions for up to a week at a time, waiting for unsuspecting mice, rats, chipmunks, or squirrels to pass by. In the late summer, males will switch gears and begin pursuing potential mates, sometimes covering miles of rugged terrain. It’s at this point where the mountain balds play an important role.

Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus pyrrus) - Photo: Bryan Hughes

few survive to reach maturity. It’s this slow reproductive biology that has made Timber Rattlesnakes vulnerable to human persecution. The loss of just a couple of reproductive females or the destruction of vital gestation sites can severely reduce a population, and take decades to fully recover.

Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus pyrrus)

The Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake is a medium-sized rattlesnake that ranges from southern Nevada and southwestern Utah through southern California and the western half of Arizona into Mexico.

While not always found at high elevations, this species is strongly associated with the rugged, rocky terrain of desert mountain ranges, including rocky slopes, canyons, lava flows, and boulder-strewn bajadas.

They can be found at least as high as 6,200 feet, where it sometimes enters chaparral and pinyon-juniper woodlands.

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While it is amazing that Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnakes thrive in such rugged, xeric habitats, their ability to blend in with their habitat is even more spectacular. When it comes to cryptic coloration, you’d be hard-pressed to find a snake anywhere in the world that has perfected it more than Speckled Rattlesnakes. The spectrum of color phases is nothing short of mind-blowing.

The geology of the mountain ranges in which they occur is very diverse, including granite, limestone, shale, sandstone, and basalt. Through natural selection, populations have developed very specific color patterns that match the geology of their mountain range’s geology. For example, Speckled Rattlesnakes inhabiting granite habitats are typically white or cream colored with black speckling, and in sandstone regions, individuals display pink, red, or orange coloration with very little speckling. The full spectrum of color phases includes white, cream, tan, yellow, beige, pink, orange, red, gray, brown,

Indigomagazine gray-green, blue-gray, and everything in between. Even the irises of their eyes will often take on a granular appearance and match the snake’s body color. The degree of dark speckling, from which it gets its name, varies almost as much as color. Most times, the speckling converges to create dorsal and lateral blotches that often fuse into bands, especially towards the tail. In other individuals, the speckling is very faint or dispersed, giving the snake a more unicolor or randomly speckled appearance.

Speckled Rattlesnakes emerge from rocky hibernacula in early spring and may remain active until late fall. They usually overwinter alone and, several weeks after egress, males begin seeking out females.

This is one of the few rattlesnake species that is limited to just a spring breeding season; most other species have been documented breeding in the fall as well.

It is during this time when males will sometimes be found in atypical habitats, such as desert lowlands, presumably in route to distant habitats to find mates.

They are primarily diurnal in the spring and fall, but transition to nocturnal behavior during the harsh summer months.

Speckled Rattlesnakes are ambush predators and the majority of their diet consists of small mammals. However in some populations songbirds appear to comprise a significant part of their diet.

Lizards are also eaten with some regularity, especially in younger individuals. Being a desert species, water is an incredibly valuable resource that cannot be passed up. Speckled rattlesnakes will frequently drink rainwater that collects on rocks or from their own scales. They will often flatten their bodies to collect rain in troughs created by their coils. Speckled Rattlesnakes will even emerge from their dens during cold winter rainfall, to take advantage of this precious resource.

Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus pyrrus) - Photo: Bryan Hughes

Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus pyrrus) - Photo: Bryan Hughes

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Indigomagazine Rattlesnakes, female Ridge-nosed Rattlesnakes often only reproduce every two or three years. Gravid females will sometimes also use gestation rocks that are often shared with other gravid females or with Rock Rattlesnakes (Crotalus lepidus).

Females sometimes show strong site fidelity and have been documented using the same gestation sites for more than twenty years. In mid-late summer, females give birth to litters of five to six neonates.

Many neonates are born with light yellow tail tips, while others are dark gray. Both will practice caudal luring to attract small lizards and other prey animals.

Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi) - Photo: Dane Conley

Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi)

In the “sky island� mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona and southwest New Mexico lives several species of small rattlesnakes. One of these unique species is the Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake. With very few individuals ever reaching two feet in length, this is one of our smallest rattlesnake species. These beautiful little serpents are typically reddish-brown or gray with thin light crossbars on the back, giving it almost a blotched appearance.

In many locales, the sides of the face are ornately marked in alternating chocolate brown and crisp white stripes. There is often another white line running down the front of the snout.

This mountain rattlesnake is found primarily on sunny slopes in pine-fir and pine-oak forests between 5,000 and 9,000 feet, but occasionally ventures into more xeric pinyon-juniper habitat. They also frequent the hardwood forests of canyons in the foothills. Rock structure is

an important component in Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake habitat. Talus slopes, cliff faces, piles of rocks, and ancient talus slopes mostly covered by soil and leaf litter all provide these snakes with refuge.

Breeding typically occurs in the late summer and fall, but spring breeding sometimes occurs. Similar to Timber

The diet of Ridge-nosed Rattlesnakes is heavily dependent upon small mammals and lizards, however, birds, centipedes, scorpions, and insects are also eaten.

Juvenile snakes tend to rely more heavily on invertebrate prey, and gradually shift towards vertebrate prey as they grow larger.

California Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata)

One look at this mountain denizen and it’s not hard to understand why many field herpers obsess over this species. This

California Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata) - Photo: Devin Bergquist

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Indigomagazine gleaming, tricolored snake is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful species in the United States. California Mountain Kingsnakes have glossy smooth scales and sport alternating black, red, and white or cream colored bands down their entire bodies. These bands completely encircle the body, although the black and white bands are often reduced on the belly giving the ventral scales a more reddish wash.

The nose is typically black, but sometimes contains some red.

Occasionally individuals are found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that are completely black and white with no red bands.

fully nocturnal during the hottest parts of the year. Breeding takes place soon after emergence in the spring, with eggs being laid June-July and hatching AugustSeptember. Like many other kingsnakes, they are dietary generalists and will feed on lizards, mammals, amphibians, nestling birds, bird eggs, and other snakes, including rattlesnakes and other members of their own species.

Northern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae) - Photo: Cary Howe

While well adapted for mountain life up to 9,000 feet, California Mountain Kingsnakes are habitat generalists that can be found in coniferous forests, oakpine woodlands, riparian woodlands, chaparral, manzanita, and coastal sage scrub. However riparian woodlands with rock features that are exposed to sun seem to be especially good habitat.

Californian Mountain Kingsnakes are typically active from March to October through much of their range. They are diurnal during cooler weather, but transition to being crepuscular and then

Northern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae)

The Northern Rubber Boa is one of only three boa species found in the United States and, with a range covering much of the American northwest, it is also the northern most boa species in the world.

This unique animal is sometimes referred to as the “two-headed snake”, because of its uniquely blunt tail that resembles its head. Northern Rubber Boas are small snakes that don’t even reach three feet in length. They have smooth brown, tan, olive, or orangish dorsal scales, while their bellies are usually a light cream color.

Rubber Boas are very cold tolerant snakes, and are frequently observed active when surface temperatures are in the 50s F or after cool rains. This cold tolerance allows them to take advantage of habitats at elevations as high as 10,000 feet.

Preferred habitats include cool northfacing slopes with forests dominated by Black Oak and Jeffrey Pine. However, they will occasionally be discovered in other habitats such as the drier Pinyon Pine-Live Oak communities.

These snakes are fossorial in nature and much of their lives are spent either in underground rodent burrows or under rocks, rotten logs, and the bark of logs and dead trees. This, combined with their nocturnal activity, allows them to stay cool and avoid desiccating. The preferred prey of C. bottae is small rodents such as young mice, voles, or shrews, however they also seem to feed on other animals opportunistically. Lizards, birds, reptile eggs, snakes, salamanders, and even salamander eggs are all documented prey items. When preying on litters of rodents, Northern Rubber Boas will often constrict multiple pups at once while thwarting off the protective mother by swiping at her with its blunt tail. The tails of Rubber Boas are often riddled with scars and this is likely due to adult rodents chewing on the snake’s tail as it feeds. Rubber Boas are thought to be long-lived snakes with individuals regularly exceeding 20 or 30 years in the wild. One specimen collected from the wild lived to be at least 50 years old if not older.

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Winter Herps in the Northeast

By Kiley Briggs

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There were days during that project when temperatures dropped to -30C (-20F) and the wire mesh of our traps would freeze instantly to our skin every time we hauled one up from a hole in the ice...

With each trip in and out of the frigid water of Kemptville Creek, another layer of ice accumulated on my waders, forming a frigid exoskeleton around my legs. I knew from experience not to tie the laces of my wading boots tightly, and was thus spared the embarrassment afterwards of needing to wait for the ice to melt by a fire in a restaurant lobby before being able to remove my wading gear and join my hosts for dinner. The loose laces technique was one I learned after two field seasons setting and checking traps through river ice in Vermont; tight laces often necessitated an hour of blasting the heat in our work truck before I could finally kick off my footwear and peel out of my sweat-soaked 7-mm neoprene waders. There were days during that project when temperatures dropped to -30C (-20F) and the wire mesh of our traps would freeze instantly to our skin every time we hauled one up from a hole in the ice; holes we insulated with Styrofoam and snow to lessen the odds they would refreeze overnight.

If someone asked what we were doing out there, searching for amphibians wouldn’t be anyone’s first guess. Setting traps through ice wasn’t exactly how I expected to spend my first two years as a herpetologist, but that was before I learned Mudpuppies (Necturus maculosus; large fully aquatic salamanders that retain external gills into adulthood) are actually most active in the winter months, even when water temperatures are near freezing. In the middle of winter, those days on which metal instantly froze to our wet hands, turned out to be the days we had some of the highest catch rates.

Winter in the Northeast is by and large an off-season for herpetologists with more sanity than me. It is a good time to write grants, analyze data, and drink a nice stout by a fire, but there is actually a lot going on under the ice and snow. For those willing to look, the winter season is actually very interesting. Fred Schueler and his wife, Aleta Karstad are two such people, and have hosted a public event called “Mudpuppy Night” every Friday all winter for almost the past 20 years.

During these Mudpuppy Nights, Fred, Aleta, and their guests use spotlights to search for Mudpuppies foraging in the shallows beneath the dam on Kemptville Creek in Ontario, Canada. Mudpuppies, which are normally very elusive and difficult to find, congregate in the rapids beneath the dam and on some nights they number in the hundreds. We weren’t so lucky during my first trip to the site in 2009, but Mudpuppies numbered in the double digits, which was a welcome change of pace after checking traps for weeks on end, catching at most one or two salamanders per day in Vermont. Exactly why Mudpuppies congregate at the dam in Oxford Mills all winter is unknown, perhaps to forage on fish disoriented by the rapids, or perhaps it is just the tendency of Mudpuppies to move upstream in the winter and the dam blocks their progression. Unique geology at that site makes it possible for people to see them, so it is an ideal place for people to go and observe these marvelous animals. The fact remains though, Frozen River - Photo: Isaac Chellman

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Indigomagazine Hatchling Painted Turtles - Photo: J.M. Storey

that Mudpuppies are most active and most easy to find during the winter throughout their range, which begs the question, “why?”

Mildly freezing conditions can be fatal to ‘cold-blooded’ animals

strategies, starting with how some species survive freezing.

Adult Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) cannot survive freezing temperatures, but their young, which hatch in the fall and stay in the nest all winter, are regularly exposed to temperatures that would kill adults.

As ectotherms that cannot generate their own body heat, you would think hatchling Painted Turtles that experience below freezing temperatures would freeze solid and die, but that is not the case. If you were to subject most reptiles to freezing temperatures, water inside the body would expand and freeze, cells would rupture, organs would be crushed, and sharp ice crystals would form causing even further damage.

Adult Mudpuppy - Photo: Kiley Briggs

Winter is an extremely harsh time for reptiles and amphibians in colder climates. As ‘cold-blooded’ animals, exposure to even mildly freezing conditions can be fatal.

Many northern species find places to overwinter that protect them from freezing temperatures by burrowing underground. Others seek refuge from the freeze underwater, but need to survive with minimal access to oxygen or even complete oxygen deprivation for prolonged periods; conditions that would kill most mammals in a matter of minutes. Because Mudpuppies mostly live in fast-flowing water that holds oxygen throughout the year, they are spared the harshest conditions winter has to offer, but other reptiles and amphibians do manage to survive freezing conditions and prolonged oxygen deprivation. The ways in which they do this are quite fascinating and I would love to share with you what I know about these remarkable survival

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All of that would add up to a very dead animal, but hatchling Painted Turtles have two methods of coping with freezing temperatures. The first line of defense is the hatchling’s ability to supercool, a process by which liquids in the turtle’s body drop to well below their normal freezing points without actually freezing. They can do this by producing extremely high concentrations of glucose and other cryoprotectants (compounds that protect tissue from freezing conditions) in the extra-cellular spaces within their bodies. High glucose concentrations drastically lower the temperature at which liquids inside the turtles freeze and the hatchlings can drop to below 10C (14F) without freezing. Interestingly, the moisture and soils surrounding the nests can impact the temperature to which turtles can supercool. In wet sandy soils, turtles can only supercool to about -2C (28F) before freezing takes place, but in clay soils they can chill to at least -13C (9F). This difference has to do with how ice crystals form in the different substrates.

Once ice begins to form around the turtles that ice essentially seeds the crystallization process in the turtles, at which point freezing occurs very rapidly. In laboratory experiments with no outside ice to seed the turtle crystallization, hatchling Painted Turtles can supercool to -20C (-4F) before flash freezing occurs.

Gartersnakes are capable of supercooling to about -5C (23F) and can only survive in a frozen state for about 10 hours or so. While this pales in comparison to abilities of the Painted Turtle, gartersnakes do not need to endure conditions nearly as extreme as those suffered by the turtles, in part because all gartersnakes, including neonates (newborns), overwinter far enough below ground to avoid freezing temperatures. Likely their toleration of short periods below freezing is an evolved safeguard to protect against overnight frosts that might occur in the spring and fall when the snakes are above ground. This gives gartersnakes major advantages over other snakes and may explain why they range so much farther north than other species (by roughly 700 miles).

There are also a handful of amphibians with remarkable tolerance to freezing temperatures, and they make the reptiles with the same abilities look like amateurs. Across the world, only nine known species

of frog can survive freezing and seven of them reside in North America: Gray Treefrogs (Hyla versicolor), Cope’s Gray Treefrogs (H. chrysoscelis), Pacific Treefrogs (H. regilla), Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), Boreal Chorus Frogs (P. maculata), and Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus). The mechanism by which they survive freezing is very similar to that of hatchling turtles; they produce excess sugars that draw water out of their cells so that freezing occurs in the extracellular spaces.

The frogs aren’t prepared to freeze year-round, however, and only begin producing those excess sugars after being exposed to ice crystals in the fall (popping a Wood Frog into the freezer mid-summer does not typically have the intended results, as the parents of many curious children have discovered over the years, to their horror). In addition to glucose, the treefrogs also use glycogen as a cryoprotectant and Wood Frogs retain urea (the frog equivalent to urine) to aid in the process.

Eastern Gartersnake - Photo: Noah Fields

While freezing solid at -10C (14F) almost always causes turtle death, the hatchlings are tolerant of freezing at milder temperatures. The same glucose that helps the turtles supercool also protects their tissues from damage caused by the freezing process. High concentrations of glucose between the cells draws water into the extracellular spaces so when freezing does occur, it occurs outside of the cells and the ice does not rupture the cells as it expands. Consequently, the hatchlings can survive freezing to about 4C (25F) with most of their tissue frozen.

During such events, all but the liver and other vital organs freeze solid and can remain so for several days without causing harm to the turtles. Only a small handful of turtle species can freeze as hatchlings, and of those, only the Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) can also freeze as an adult (Box Turtles being the only species with freeze-tolerant hatchlings that overwinters on land as an adult).

The only other reptiles native to North America with some freezing ability are gartersnakes (Thamnophis sp.).

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Newt Soup

Newt Soup - Photo: Hollis Burbank-Hammarlund

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Eastern Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens) can overwinter either on land or in water. Newts overwintering underwater are protected from freezing temperatures, but the water may become anoxic (depleted of oxygen) while covered by ice.

While Eastern Newts are capable of respiring entirely through their skin at low temperatures under normal oxygen conditions, they can only tolerate brief periods of anoxia before lactic acid buildup from anaerobic respiration kills them. During a period of anoxic stress, hundreds of newts from within a beaver pond gathered at this opening in the ice where they could access oxygen.

Did you know?

Eastern Box Turtle – Photo: Chris Slesar

Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina) are the only North American turtle that can tolerate freezing conditions as adults. Several other turtle species have freeze-tolerant hatchlings, but the young turtles lose their freeze tolerance after emerging, after which point they overwinter underwater where they are protected from freezing temperatures. Eastern Box Turtles, being the northernmost species of turtle to overwinter on land, are sometimes exposed to temperatures below freezing as adults and consequently retain their ability to survive partial freezing.

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During a freeze, frogs will appear from the outside to be entirely frozen. Their skin and eyes will be rock hard and most of the fluid in their bodies will be solid, but as with the hatchling turtles, their livers and other vital organs remain in a super-cooled state.

As temperatures drop and they begin to freeze, their exterior freezes first and the ice gradually moves inward towards the frog’s core until reaching those organs with such high loads of cryoprotectants that the freezing process halts (of course the liver and other vital organs eventually can freeze, but such circumstances are lethal to the frog). The heart will cease to beat for the duration of the freeze, until the thawing process when something truly remarkable happens.

If the frog’s tissues and organs thawed in the same order that they froze (outside to inside), the frog would die. The skin, limbs, and eyes would thaw out while vascular tissue connecting them to the heart was still frozen and tissue on the frog’s exterior would become necrotic before the core of the frog even thawed. Instead, the frogs thaw from the core outward.

The heart starts beating and as each subsequent layer of tissue thaws blood flow is immediately restored until finally the skin and eyes soften. The entire process just takes a couple hours

the harshest conditions. At the end of winter, that same snow serves another valuable purpose to the frogs.

Wood Frogs almost always breed and lay their eggs in vernal pools, which rely largely on snow melt as a water source in the spring. As temporary bodies of water that dry out by mid to late summer, vernal pools are free of fish that would prey upon breeding amphibians, their eggs, and their larva. For that same reason, amphibians need to lay their eggs as During a freeze, frogs early in the season as possible if the young are to survive. By overwintering will appear from the close to the surface and surviving outside to be entirely freezing conditions, Wood Frogs and other freezable species “wake up” at frozen. the earliest signs of spring and can and the frogs can resume normal body migrate to the vernal pools as soon as the snow melts, long before other function immediately afterward. species, such as toads, emerge from Freeze-tolerant frogs can typically their deeper winter refugia. survive lower temperatures and remain So far I’ve only mentioned mostly frozen for longer periods of time than any reptile, with most of North American species, them capable of freezing to roughly but avoiding Siberian -5C (23F) or so for durations of up S a l a m a n d e r s to a couple weeks. Recently, however, ( S a l a m a n d r e l l a researchers found that Wood Frogs keyserlingii) in a about in Alaska near the northern extent discussion of their range can survive freezing to f r e e z e - t o l e r a n t would temperatures as low as -18C (0F) and amphibians remain frozen for upwards of 200 be unforgivable. Siberian consecutive days, which is a duration Salamanders use glycogen as an order of magnitude greater than a cryoprotectant, as do treefrogs anyone had previously known. Those in the Hyla genus. Concentrations of Alaskan frogs also had muscle glucose glycogen in the Siberian Salamander concentrations an order of magnitude are much greater than in the treefrogs, higher compared to Wood Frogs however, and they can survive most of studied in other areas, suggesting the the liquid in their bodies freezing down degree to which Wood Frogs can to about -35C (-31F), far lower than survive cold temperatures might vary any other vertebrate, and twice as far according to latitude, as is the case with below freezing as the Alaskan Wood some insects. Throughout their range, Frogs. They can also remain frozen however, air temperatures regularly for much longer periods of time with fall far below that which the frogs can some accounts indicating they can survive and frogs depend on insulation survive in a frozen state for several from snow cover to protect them from years. Interestingly, while the Siberian ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG WINTER ISSUE 2018 23

Frozen Wood Frog - Photo: J.M. Storey

Frozen Photo:Grey CodyTreefrog Bliss - Photo: J.M. Storey

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Mudpuppy Night - Photo: Isaac Chellman

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Indigomagazine Salamanders are frozen, a common source of mortality is sublimation (water in their tissue turning from a solid directly to a gas, which causes the salamanders to desiccate) rather than tissue damage caused by the extreme temperatures.

Freezing is not the only difficult condition winter has to offer.

Freezing is by no means the only difficult condition winter has to offer. Many species of reptile and amphibian overwinter underwater in lakes, rivers, and ponds. Waterbodies, especially those with low flow, often completely ice over in the north, which is problematic. Ice creates a barrier that essentially traps the animals underwater and prevents them from reaching the surface to gulp air, but that in itself is not a problem for the species that overwinter in aquatic habitats. Painted Turtles, for example, which overwinter underwater as adults, drop to the same temperature as the water, barely above 0C (32F), and at such temperatures their metabolisms drop by about 95%. This means their oxygen demands are so low they can get all the oxygen they need by respiring through their skin, especially the skin inside and around their mouth and cloaca (the non-jargon term for this is “butt breathing”). Painted Turtles will spend most of the winter buried under leaves and sediments, however they will occasionally move around and can even be seen swimming under the ice on occasion. That is, until, oxygen levels in the water crash, a condition called anoxia, which is a major source of reptile and amphibian mortality during the winter.

The same ice that traps turtles underwater during the winter also creates a barrier that prevents gas

exchange between the water and air. Many bodies of water steadily lose oxygen throughout the winter until becoming anoxic. At this point, turtles are unable to gather the oxygen required to sustain them through their skin and so-called “butt breathing”, so their metabolism drops further, to just 1% of that of summer levels, and they start burning glycogen as an energy source. Burning glycogen from muscle tissue produces enough energy to keep the turtle’s cells and organs alive, but also produces lactic acid as a byproduct. This same process is what causes muscle fatigue and soreness during exercise, but in turtles the lactic acid levels in their bodies steadily rise without reprieve during periods of anoxia and can eventually cause a condition called anoxic acidosis, and death. Different turtle species have different levels of tolerance to anoxic conditions and the buildup of this lactic acid, and Painted Turtles top all other North American species. To balance out the lactic acid, Painted Turtles precipitate calcium and potassium from their skeleton and shell into their blood stream, which buffers the acidity caused by excess levels of

lactic acid and staves off symptoms of acidosis. That is not to say Painted Turtles are immune to problems caused by lactic buildup and indeed, many die after prolonged periods in anoxic conditions. Those that survive are lethargic for some time and can be seen hyperventilating after emergence in an attempt to get as much oxygen into their system as possible.

Prolonged oxygen deprivation is eventually lethal to all northern reptiles and amphibians, even Painted Turtles. Eastern Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens), for example, almost always overwinter underwater in the north and stick to aquatic habitats with minimal flow. While beaver ponds are an ideal habitat for Eastern Newts, those beaver ponds usually freeze completely over during the winter in the north, trapping the newts under the ice. Like Painted Turtles, newts drastically lower their metabolisms and oxygen requirements in cold water to the point where they no longer need access to surface air. Anoxia, however, is more problematic to the newts than to Painted Turtles. While amphibians are capable of anaerobic respiration

Great Plains Skink (Plestiodon obsoletus) - Photo: Noah Fields ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG WINTER ISSUE 2018 25

Indigomagazine for short periods of time in cold temperatures, even for days in some cases, they do not have much bony material from which to buffer acidity caused by the buildup of lactic acid and are thus much more susceptible to its effects.

Photo: Brannon Knight

I’m reminded of a case a few years back where a woman in Vermont found a small opening at the edge of a frozen beaver pond that was packed full of at least hundreds of newts, all clambering for access to the surface.

Presumably the water in the pond had gone anoxic and every residing newt flocked to the one spot where they could access oxygen and get some relief from the lactic acid buildup in their bodies. While the fate of those newts is unknown, a friend of mine at another site found hundreds of newt carcasses piled together in one spot at the edge of a similar pond at the end of winter. Most likely that pond also went anoxic and the newts congregated at an opening near the edge. What exactly killed those newts is hard to say, but a refreezing event would have cut them off from their oxygen source and is a probable cause of death. Reptiles and amphibians that

overwinter underwater vary in their media attention. On many occasions tolerance of anoxic conditions, but all at that site, I’ve seen salamanders migrating over snow, and sometimes have their limits. while it is actually snowing. You’ll Not every reptile and amphibian in often hear people say temperatures the north can substantially supercool need to be about 4C (40F) for major or survive being frozen, indeed most amphibian movement, but up north, cannot, but that does not stop many as long as air temperatures are above species from pushing the limits. freezing and the ground is moderately Jefferson Salamanders (Ambystoma wet, those animals are good to go. One jeffersonianum), for example, cannot night we counted nearly 1,000 Bluefreeze and can barely supercool, but spotted Salamanders (A. laterale) over they emerge from their overwintering the course of just a few hours, along sites below the frost line, migrate with hundreds of other amphibians across or under snow to their including Spotted Salamanders (A. breeding pools, lay their eggs, and maculatum), Four-toed Salamanders then sometimes make it back to their (Hemidactylium scutatum), Red-backed upland habitat before Wood Frogs Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus), Wood even emerge. Jefferson Salamanders Frogs, and Spring Peepers (though have even been seen emerging through Red-backed Salamanders are not holes in the snow around the stems of usually seen so early in the year). small saplings and are sometimes seen Similar migrations uphill take place in the fall, but that uphill movement courting under layers of ice. tends to be more spread out so the The sheer number of amphibians numbers on any one given night are that emerge at the first signs of spring not nearly as spectacular. The north while there is still snow on the ground might not have the high diversity of can be breathtaking. There is a site reptiles and amphibians as the south, in central Vermont where the public but despite spending extensive time in is invited to help monitor migrating both Georgia and Texas, I have never amphibians every spring on rainy witnessed such numbers in warmer nights, often attracting significant climates.

Frozen Wood Frog - Photo: J.M. Storey

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Another extreme case of breathtaking numbers is the Narcisse snake pits of Manitoba. In places where foraging habitat is abundant, but overwintering habitat scarce, gartersnakes use communal dens and emerge in large numbers at the first signs of spring. In Narcisse, thousands upon thousands of the snakes emerge at the same time, slithering over top of one another in massive piles as part of a breeding frenzy, usually in April while there is still snow on the ground. To a much lesser extent, this is something I have seen in Vermont on a small island surrounded by swamp. The swamp is an excellent place for the snakes to forage, but seemingly every snake in

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Some snakes give birth to live young whereas others lay eggs. Live-bearing species are more common in colder climates than their egg-laying counterparts, which are scarce at extreme elevations and latitudes. The “cold climate hypothesis” explains that live-bearing in reptiles, which have evolved separately over 100 times in snakes and lizards, allows gravid (pregnant) females to incubate their young at warmer temperatures by basking than would be available to eggs in a nest. Gartersnakes, which give birth to live young, extend farther north than any other North American snake by about 10 degrees of latitude (almost 700 miles). In Europe and Asia, the northernmost snake species are also live-bearing.

Gartersnake - Photo: Kiley Briggs the swamp migrates to a single rocky island to overwinter where they can get below the frost line, but remain above the water table. The island has a much warmer microclimate than surrounding areas and is one of the first places in the state to thaw, so getting to the island in time to see the snakes often means kayaking through narrow channels in the ice, kayaking over the ice at times, then hiking through thick cedar swamps in chest waders to avoid getting soaking wet during the inevitable “post holing” events. I can think of more than one person who has told me to never bring them to the island again, but those who survive the journey are rewarded by a long-awaited taste of spring and can see dozens of snakes crossing patches of snow and curiously looking for mates. Interestingly, the snakes on that island are so single-mindedly focused on finding mates when they emerge that they will approach sources of vibration; I have found one way to attract the snakes is to just drop a log on the ground repeatedly in one place and within moments snakes start making their way toward me. I am by no means alone in my intrigue and awe surrounding emerging gartersnakes, not even close.

There are plenty of biodiversity hotspots where herpers flock to go herping, but there are very few events that attract interest from outside the herpetological world to reptiles and amphibians except those events related to northern winters. Almost everyone knows some frogs can survive freezing.

The spring amphibian migrations draw people out into the cold wet weather who would otherwise never be caught outside in those conditions. Mudpuppy night attracts the occasional tour bus across international borders so people can spend a night wading out into fast-flowing water to see salamanders, getting covered in ice in the process.

The spectacular snake pits of in Manitoba attract tourists from around the world and are a major source of revenue to rural areas around Narcisse.

A place called “Snake Road” in Illinois, where huge numbers of snakes can be seen migrating to and from their hibernacula, is almost considered sacred ground among the field herping community and people from around the world flock there to see the event for themselves.

As a herpetologist from Vermont who has spent most of my life in the north, people often ask me why I wouldn’t rather live down south where

there are more species and much longer field seasons. Truthfully, I’ve lived in the south, and while I am always excited to find new species, I spent a lot of my time down there reminiscing about kayaking over ice to witness the gartersnake emergence and searching for amphibians on cold rainy nights. Of course there are plenty of amphibians crossing roads in the rain down south, but not on such a large scale as I am used to. Not counting Mudpuppies, there isn’t much to see herp-wise up here for four or five months out of the year, but I wouldn’t trade the northern herping experience for anything and the incredible abundance of animals to be seen in the spring and fall more than makes up for their scarcity in the winter. The fact that there are complex biological mechanisms taking place under the surface to make it all possible just adds an extra layer of intrigue; the cake under the frosting, if you know what I mean.

Acknowledgments: Special thanks to everybody who contributed photos for this article, especially Isaac Chellman, as well as to Dr. Kenneth Storey and Janet Storey, who not only provided photos of frozen frogs, but have contributed vast amounts of knowledge to the scientific community about the mechanisms animals use to survive freezing conditions. Visit http://kenstoreylab.com/ for more photos and information. Thanks also to Fred Schueler and Aleta Karstad for their continued service to the herpetological world by hosting Mudpuppy Night, an event I have greatly enjoyed participating in over the years.

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Tales of Barrier Island Beasts and Burdens

By Dr. Kimberly Andrews University of Georgia

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Barrier Island - Photo: Chris Jenkins

Barrier islands of the eastern United States

For those of you who have had the pleasure of traveling to the barrier islands of the eastern United States, you have been fortunate enough to experience that sense of “special” in these unique pieces of land - isolated, yet barely more than a stone’s throw away from our mainland inhabitations. This special feeling likely either arose from their beauty, a sense of relaxation, or vacation vigor, or in the case of a few remaining examples, a sense of quiet solitude. If you have not experienced the wonderment of a barrier island in the southeastern United States, I suggest you move that to the top of your get-away list.

People are not the only ones who feel this unique sense of opportunity and distinction on islands.

Island species tend to be special from those on the mainland. Worldwide, there are examples of plants and animals that are known exclusively from isolated land masses. From those other species that live in both habitats, island individuals usually differ in physical or behavioral ways from the mainlanders. An example?

Perhaps it is in body size – some species are bigger on islands, but some get smaller. For reptiles, as an example, this group of animals tend to be larger in body size on islands while deer tend to be smaller.

Perhaps the island individuals may eat different prey or occupy different habitats. As scientists, we find ourselves having to learn new “rules” that drive the ecology of island species, whose natural history can be little known in comparison to mainland relatives which have been studied extensively.

A leading example of a group of little understood animals is our herpetofauna; amphibians and reptiles,

American Alligators - Photo: Dirk Stevenson

endearingly referred to as “herps” by scientists and hobbyists. Herps are certainly difficult, sometimes even frustrating, to study. They can be small, hidden, incredibly cryptic, and camouflaged, or they can be large, cumbersome, and even somewhat dangerous to handle. Additionally, there are not a lot of resources that are appropriated for studying and managing herp populations despite them being a highly diverse group of animals that is beautifully charismatic in their appearances and behaviors, and increasingly imperiled with many species threatened by development and contamination.

The State of Georgia hosts some of the highest diversity of amphibian and reptiles in temperate climates, with over 150 native species. These species fill all kinds of niches from mountainous and terrestrial habitats, to freshwater, aquatic rivers and swamps, and to the brackish and marine waters of coastal habitats.

Of this diversity, Georgia barrier islands are home to a third or even less of the state’s diversity.

Islands have fewer species than the mainland, a mechanism that broadly can be attributed to islands being smaller; simply, less area means less space for fewer species to exist. This phenomenon is something that biologists refer to as the “speciesarea relationship.” Since there is less space, species become creative, developing adaptations that allow them to become the best at a particular niche in an ecosystem. Because of this adaptive capacity, there are many examples of incredibly unusual species on islands, such as the famous blue-footed boobies of the Galapagos Islands.

Following along the same reasoning, species’ populations on islands tend to be comprised of fewer

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Barrier islands are different from the oceanic islands Barrier islands are different from the oceanic islands in that they hug the mainland and are within eyesite of the mainland. These islands do not experience as dramatic trends in species extinction and colonization because they are “semi-connected” through this close proximity, making it easier for animals to disperse to these insular habitats, even if they cannot withstand long durations in the saltwater. In Georgia, 4 of our 13 barrier islands are artificially connected to the mainland by constructed causeways. This proximity makes our barrier islands more similar to their adjacent mainland habitats, but unfortunately, has also made it easier for invasive species to establish through purposeful and accidental transport. This case as seen with the invasive Cuban Treefrog, a large frog that can consume native frog species.

points of connectivity. Therefore, we can study smaller, more relatively sessile, organisms such as herps to better understand those geologic patterns.

As part of this proximity, barrier islands provide essential protection to mainland habitats from storms and flooding. They provide off-shore armoring from direct storm impacts.

As such, barrier islands are fronted with a system of sand dunes which essentially serve as “speed bumps” for wind and flood breaks. When we develop our shorelines and do not preserve the functionality of these dune systems, we not only lose the flora and fauna communities that are special to those habitats, we lose the resilience of the landscapes on which our human communities thrive and survive.

Georgia’s coastline stretches over 100 miles with an expansive amount of undeveloped shoreline. How did Georgians end up with our valuable natural resources being so protected despite unrelenting pressures to convert habitats for big hotels and shopping centers? This coastline is largely owned by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

We also are lucky in having private landowners who have generously placed property into easement such as Little Saint Simons Island, or islands on which development is regulated through state park agreements, such as on Jekyll Island. This protection means that the Georgia coastline is a refuge for many creatures, big and small. Now, I want to tell a tale of those herps, and why Georgia islands are special to our native herps, and why we want people to embrace that they are a special part of our natural heritage.

Some of our barrier islands were formed during the Pleistocene era and others during the subsequent Holocene era. They also move over long periods of geologic time, some shifting closer to the mainland or farther away. They have adjoined with each other at certain points, and at other points, parts of islands have broken off to adjoin to a neighboring island, or they form their own island.

The inhabiting wildlife tells these tales of history as the drifting land masses carry the hitch-hiking wildlife along to its new destination. For many herp species that cannot travel through marine and brackish waters, their presence is a signature of these past

Barrier islands are backed on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and to the west by our tidal salt marshes. While these marshes have increased salinity relative to freshwater habitats, they are deemed “brackish” having reduced salinity levels to the ocean.

The gradient of saline conditions surrounding islands, from marine to marsh environments on their borders and freshwater wetlands in their interior, allows for a diversity of herp species to occupy a variety of niches based on their preferences and abilities to tolerate salty conditions.

There are reptiles, such as sea turtles that have the ability to specialize in marine habitats due to a glandular

Photo: Dirk Stevenson

individuals, and therefore, typically experience a greater vulnerability to extinction. Simply, an island is surrounded by water and if the reduced number of animals is wiped out, other “conspecifics” (individuals of the same species) cannot easily recolonize via a connected landmass.

This natural pattern of extinction and recolonization is the ebb and flow of island communities. However, the rate at which there is ebbing and flowing is accelerating due to pressures from our daily activities that are displacing the habitats and resources animals need to survive. Island habitats are experiencing additional pressures from higher than normal sea levels and increasing storm frequency and intensity.

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Salt Marsh - Photo: Lance Paden

Photos: Lloyd Newberry

Photos: Martha Newberry

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Indigomagazine Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes cannot occupy salt or estuarine habitats on a full-time basis

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake - Photo: Lance Paden

adaptation that allows them to process salt. These glands are located in their eyes and excrete salt constantly, an occurrence that is most obvious when they are laying their eggs, a biological ability which has been mistaken as them “crying�. Diamondback Terrapins are a turtle that is our only full-time resident reptile of tidal salt marshes. We have other species, such as American Alligators and eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes, that use marshes and oceans for transient movement and foraging habitats, but cannot occupy salt or estuarine habitats on a full-time basis.

Moving to inland aquatic herp species, you find species similar to those in mainland habitats, including freshwater turtles, such as YellowBellied Sliders or the rarer chicken turtles. These freshwater habitats are

Living with the Land

Loggerhead nest - Photo: Lance Paden

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Indigomagazine also where you can find a depauperate presence of amphibians that is typical to islands. Amphibians are less adapted to salty conditions due to the permeable nature of their thin skin which serves for respiration in some species. We have a handful of the state’s frogs on islands and even fewer salamanders, one of the most common being the strikingly beautiful Eastern Newt.

Wetlands are disappearing Interesting changes are occurring to our freshwater habitats which are particularly impactful to these amphibians. Wetlands are disappearing due to historic ditching practices and current groundwater withdrawals that reduce and divert standing water.

Habitats are being degraded through pollution from contaminant run-off into these low-lying pools. We are experiencing saltwater intrusion into these wetlands from human-related hydrological changes.

Saltwater intrusion also occurs from hurricanes and storm surges which pushes water from the ocean and marshes into inland habitats.

There is also a suite of terrestrial species inhabiting the land between the water, such as lizards, snakes, and the Eastern Box Turtle, well known as friendly, backyard creatures that are impacted by road mortality and over-collection for the pet trade. Some species, such as the nonvenomous Banded Water Snake and the venomous Cottonmouth, are considered semi-aquatic, meaning that they rely on both freshwater habitats and the land surrounding them. Freshwater turtles can also be considered semi-aquatic as they need these terrestrial margins to lay their eggs on higher ground.

It can be an easy misinterpretation to look at barrier islands and see hard boundaries at the diverse number of waters’ edges. With advances in technology, such as GPS and satellite technology, we are able to study wildlife ecology more thoroughly and have developed more accurate understandings of how their needs differ on islands. We understand that island herps rely on a network of multiple habitat types, an understanding which has revamped our way of thinking in how we manage for these animals and their ecological needs. The old approach of developing management and species conservation plans for single species and single habitats has proven ineffective; we simply have been missing the forest for the trees.

acknowledged species, such as the burrowing spadefoot toad, up to the widely known, but still misunderstood American Alligator. Some animals are highly localized and do not need to move much, and others traverse jurisdictional boundaries using multiple islands and requiring regional and state-level plans. There are ephemeral habitats that come and go seasonally and there are permanent habitats with year-round residents.

There are a lot of things to plan for to keep a balanced island economy.

The challenge in the dynamic and the diversity on these special places hosting animals highly adapted for island life, is a burden we should come to embrace as an opportunity and a point of pride of our coastal culture.

The late founding father of modern ecology, Eugene P. Odum, stated, “the ecosystem is greater than the sum of its parts,” meaning that the collective ecological functioning of a community is more valuable and powerful than adding each part independently. Our human economy functions in this same way. A robust, healthy society is comprised of many different types of people performing many different services, or jobs. The network of that divide-and-conquer to create a balanced economy is what leads to a society resilient to change and challenge. Everything in nature has a job too, the salamander and the venomous snake included. These jobs must be retained to keep the balance of the ecological community, to maintain the resilience of our island communities to change.

Managing island habitats and their beasts is a challenge. We have the responsibility of protecting the needs of everyone in the wildlife community, from the smaller, lesser

Coachwhip - Photo: Chris Jenkins

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Indigomagazine

Bellwethers of Changing Climates

by Dr. Christopher Jenkins

Reptiles and amphibians are perhaps one of the greatest bellwethers of climate change. This statement came to me a couple years ago. In the region of the Blue Ridge Mountains where I live, our winters are mild relative to much of the United States but we still experience extensive periods of temperatures below freezing and snow at higher elevations. We monitor Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) in these high elevation, cold mountain top habitats. One February a few years back, we had been having unseasonably warm temperatures in the 70(F)s for days. I do a great deal of hiking in the winter and decided I would hike up to a Timber Rattlesnake overwintering site that was perched at about 3,500 feet in elevation and faced almost due south. The approach

to the crack in the granite where the snakes retreated was rocky and steep. I remember climbing through the rocks and thinking about how I was sweating like it was May but it was still February.

The midday sun shined perfectly into the overwintering crack and at the mouth, I could see the body loops of two Timber Rattlesnakes. Later, when I compared notes with colleagues, multiple biologists in places as far north as New York and New England were also seeing the snakes they monitor emerge. This whole experience made me think about a painting I saw of Cherokee Indians in the Blue Ridge Mountains working their way through deep snow in an area that now would rarely ever see snow cover. It made me think what the winters may have been like historically in this region

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and how rare an experience seeing rattlesnakes in February must have been. To understand what makes a rattlesnake come out in warm February weather it is important to understand environmental physiology. Specifically, in this example understanding the concept of ectothermy will provide insight into how animals like Timber Rattlesnakes respond to changing climates.

Reptiles and amphibians are ectotherms Reptiles and amphibians are ectotherms and thus much more tightly linked to the physical environment than many other species of animals.

People may be more familiar with

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Sea turtle - Photo: Noah Fields

the term ‘cold-blooded’ which is often used instead of ectotherm. An ectotherm, or a cold-blooded animal, is one whose body temperature is controlled by the environment instead of physiologically like in mammals.

The reason most scientists do not like to use the term cold-blooded is because, while much of the time a reptile or amphibian’s blood would be colder than a mammals (use a human as an example), it is certainly possible for their blood to be warmer than a humans. Being so tightly linked to the physical environment is a critical component to the ecology of reptiles and amphibians. Many of the behaviors we observe in these species are strongly influenced by the physical environment. For example, many of us have observed reptiles basking in

the sun or observed congregations of reptiles at overwintering hibernacula.

These behaviors are linked to the species being ectotherms, reptiles bask to raise their body temperature and when air temperatures are going to be very low reptiles need to find habitats that will allow them to escape cold temperatures.

One really important thing to understand about ectotherms is not only how their body temperature is linked to the environment, but how their physiology is linked to temperature. There are many processes, such as digestion, that we as humans do not think about because we have a constant body temperature.

We do not go out on the back porch to sit in the sun to get warm and speed up the digestion of our dinner,

but ectotherms need to do just that.

As an example of the behaviors an ectotherm needs to conduct to deal with environmental temperatures, I will use the example of the Timber Rattlesnakes here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. First, winter temperatures here are cold enough that if a snake was to stay on the surface its cells would freeze and the snake would die.

So they find areas where they can go far enough underground to get below the frost line and survive the winter.

Second, female Timber Rattlesnakes that are going to give birth in a given summer use a distinctly different habitat from other snakes that are going to spend the season feeding.

Gravid females generally search out rocks that are on open rock faces.

These rock on rock microhabitats

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Photo: Houston Chandler

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Timber Rattlesnake - Photo: Pete Oxford

provide a microclimate that allows the gravid females to stay relatively warm both day and night and allow them to keep their body temperatures high, therefore developing the embryos quickly. Finally, Timber Rattlesnakes will also seek out relatively open areas with rocks where they can raise their body temperatures for other activities, such as shedding or digesting.

One additional aspect of the physical environment that is important to reptiles and amphibians is precipitation and humidity. This is particularly important for most amphibians.

Many species of amphibians need to keep their skin very moist or they will dry out and die. There are even some radiations of amphibians that no longer have lungs and depend on maintaining moist skin to essentially breathe through their skin. Water is also an important component when we think about reptiles. The amount of water reptiles lose through their skin varies, with desert species typically

losing much less than species in humid environments.

Given that reptiles and amphibians are closely linked to the physical environment, specifically temperature and water, it is important to consider that changing climates around the world are likely impacting reptiles and amphibians in very direct ways. Perhaps more directly than other species, such as mammals and birds, who by being endotherms, maintain their body temperatures physiologically. I am not an expert and do not want to try to categorize global patterns in climate change, but it is widely recognized that climates are changing around the world at an unprecedented rate. While many ecosystems are experiencing warming temperatures, climate change cannot be simply classified as global warming as there are places that are predicted to cool. In addition, some of the greatest changes we are experiencing are increases and decreases in precipitation. Independent of the

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details of how climates are changing geographically, we know that as we experience these climate shifts, ecosystems around the world are also changing. Changes to these ecosystems and the direct changes to temperatures and precipitation have the potential to quickly impact ectotherms. To illustrate how rapidly the changing climate is altering ecosystems and ultimately impacting reptiles and amphibians, I will use a few examples from species I have worked with in the wild. As a disclaimer, some of these examples are purely speculative and some are being studied.

Threats to the Greatest Salamander Biodiversity Hotspot The summer between finishing my undergraduate degree and beginning my masters research on the movement ecology of the Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum), I travelled to a

Indigomagazine magical place. At the time I had no idea that I would eventually call this region home. I travelled down to the southern Blue Ridge Mountains to take a class on salamanders at the Highlands Biological Station in North Carolina.

It was an impressive landscape with high, steep mountains covered in dark, thick, temperate rainforest. But what captivated me most was the diversity of salamanders. We would go out in the field during the class and it seemed like we were finding 5 to 10 species everywhere we explored.

Species ranging from Hellbenders in the lower elevation rivers to terrestrial lungless salamanders on high ridge tops. This incredible diversity of salamanders is known as the greatest biodiversity hotspot for salamanders in the world. It is thought that the high level of diversity evolved because of the availability of many habitats, elevations, slopes, and aspects that provided refugia during ice ages

where salamanders retreated, became isolated, and locally adapted.

This ‘magical’ place and its incredible diversity of salamanders is threatened by rapidly changing climates. A group of colleagues at the University of Georgia did some broad scale modeling to look at how potential changes in temperature and precipitation in the region would impact salamanders and found that habitat for many species is likely going to decline significantly. In particular, salamander species that had a more southern range or had a very restricted range, such as mountain top species, will likely experience very significant declines in habitat due to changing temperature and precipitation. Some people might not put much stock in models, but based on the approach they used, I am confident that the general trajectory of salamander habitat in the region is a declining one. Beyond models, having worked,

travelled, and now lived in the region for 10 years, I can say that it does seem like the forests are becoming dryer and warmer. Old-timers here talk about how there were many snow storms every winter where we only get a couple now if we are lucky. They talk about abundant, consistent rain where now we experience long stretches, sometimes months, with no rain.

This region is changing and so are the salamander populations. To give you an example of how this is happening, I will tell you the story of one of my favorite salamanders, the Red-legged Salamander (Plethodon shermani).

Red-legged Salamanders live at high elevations in the Nantahala Mountains of North Carolina and Georgia. As you could imagine based on the name, they are beautiful animals with a dark blue-black body and bright red legs.

I remember one expedition from my summer in Highlands where our salamander biology class went high

Red-legged Salamander - Photo: Daniel Thompson

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Chattahoochee Slimy Salamander - Photo: Pete Oxford

into the Nantahala Mountains on a rainy night. We parked the vans on a dirt road and with head lamps, worked our way up the steep mountain side.

I can still remember today, almost 20 years later, the amazing abundance of these salamanders. The forest floor seemed to be alive with them, we counted hundreds of salamanders in about an hour. There is another salamander from the same family (Plethodontidae) that lives in the same region, the Chattahoochee Slimy Salamander (Plethodon chattahoochee).

This species of slimy salamander also lives in the forests of the Nantahala Mountains, but typically live at much lower elevations. In recent years, the contact zone where Red-legged and slimy salamanders meet appears to be rising in elevation. The species appear to be hybridizing and the more warmclimate adapted slimy salamanders are extending their range higher and higher. Red-legged Salamanders are mountain top species who have nowhere to go as the climate in the region becomes warmer and drier. It is a sad story, but there is a chance that in the future students will not have the opportunity to experience the high

densities of Red-legged Salamanders I experienced almost 20 years ago.

Central American Snake Declines I can still remember the first snake I found in Central America, it was definitely a memorable one. We were off-trail hiking through the rainforested foothills surrounding Corcovado National Park. As I came down the side of a steep hill into a ravine, a large snake launched out from the base of a tree. At first all I saw was something big and the flash of black and white colors. My colleague, Guido, and I eventually caught the snake and there I was with my first Central American snake in my hands, a large Spilotes pullatus also known as a Chicken Snake or Serpiente Tigre. This snake was easily as large as many of the Indigo Snakes I have seen and every bit as brilliant in its color. When I was young and I pictured visiting the rainforests, I imagined walking into the forest and snakes crawling, climbing, and swimming everywhere. But as any of you who have visited know, this is far from reality. While the rainforests hold

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incredible snake diversity much of that diversity is cryptic and you rarely see it, especially if you primarily go out in the day. The best way to see snakes in Central American rainforests is to go out at night with headlights and some moisture on the ground helps. The other interesting thing about searching for snakes in the rainforests is that it is difficult to target individual species.

In temperate regions, there are often times, places, and techniques that allow you to find a high abundances of individual species, but in the rainforests typically you go out at night and could potentially see a long list of species but you are often surprised by which one you encounter.

This cryptic diversity has fascinated me ever since I started travelling to the region but I fear that a series of trophic cascade events is seriously threatening this diversity. Trophic cascades are ecological phenomena that are well documented in nature.

The basic concept is that a change in populations at one level of the food chain has cascading effects through the other parts of the food chain. There are many model examples in literature but to explain I will use one I had the opportunity to observe while I spent 10 years living in the Great Yellowstone Ecosystem. In the mid-1990s wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone and a trophic cascade was triggered, or maybe it is more appropriate to say a trophic cascade was reversed. The wolves back in the system began to lower elk numbers and change their behavior. With fewer elk spending less time in the creek bottoms, willow populations along the creek recovered and birds such as flycatchers returned to the creek bottoms.

It is the same type of trophic cascade that affected the flycatchers that is threatening snake diversity in Central America. Historically, amphibian populations in Central America were

Indigomagazine very diverse and abundant and many snake species in the region would focus much of their foraging on frogs.

Multiple diseases have infected and caused many of the amphibians in the region to decline or go extinct.

Chytrid fungus has swept across the planet, affects the frog’s skin, and can result in their death. The die-off of frog populations was documented as chytrid moved in a wave-like fashion across Central America. Just behind this die-off of frogs, it has been documented that populations of many snakes that feed on frogs have also declined. Many biologist think that the warming climate in Central America has allowed the chytrid to grow more quickly and thus have a greater impact on the frogs. If all of this is accurate, warming climates in Central America have provided conditions favorable for a fungus to grow and spread that is decimating frog populations and the snake species that depend on those frogs for food are also declining. I have always been fascinated by trophic cascades (my PhD dissertation was focused on trophic cascades and rattlesnakes) but this is one cascade that I wish had a solution. I observed how difficult it was to restore wolves, willows, and birds to Yellowstone but I am afraid bringing back the frogs and the snakes that feed on them to Central America is going to be a much greater task. Â

large herds of elk that have migrated out of the mountains to overwinter in the high desert, laid on the ground in a small burlap blind in the middle of a sage grouse lek as the sun came up, crawled thousands of yards back into caves to observe overwintering clusters of bats, and stood in the middle of a talus slope with over thirty rattlesnakes around me. But perhaps the rarest wildlife spectacle I had the opportunity to witness was Great Basin Spadefoot Toad (Spea intermontana) breeding in the Big Lost River Sinks.

The Big Lost River Sinks is an area on the Idaho National Laboratory that the Big Lost River, the Little Lost River, and Birch Creek flow in to.

These rivers never flow to the ocean, but instead come together into a wide playa wetland where the water gathers and eventually sinks into the basalt bedrock of the desert floor. All three of these rivers are fed by winter snows in the high country melting in the spring. Historically, the Big Lost River Sinks would have held water for at least a short period of time each spring.

Great Basin Spadefoot Toads are adapted to breeding in wetlands that dry very quickly. Their tadpoles

develop rapidly compared to other frogs, with eggs that can hatch within a day and tadpoles that can metamorphose within 14 days. In addition, to maximize survival of some individuals, while many tadpoles would be omnivores feeding on a wide range of food, some tadpoles grow larger faster and develop different mouth structures that allow them to be carnivorous. These carnivorous tadpoles will feed on other tadpoles and grow very quickly to metamorphosis.

Historically, the Big Lost River Sinks was likely one of the primary breeding locations for Great Basin Spadefoot Toads in the region and is still one of the few locations they are known to occur. But multiple factors have changed the frequency with which the playa wetlands fill. In the 10 years I spent working in the region, I only experienced spadefoot breeding once, whereas historically, breeding likely would have occurred at some level every year. The first and most concerning factor is that changing climates have resulted in great variability in winter snow packs in the mountains. While historically the mountains would have held

I spent 10 years living and working in the high sagebrush steppe deserts of southeast Idaho. Much of my time was spent working with Great Basin Rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus lutosus) but I had the opportunity to learn about and experience the amazing diversity of wildlife in the sagebrush steppe. I have snowshoed through

Photo: Houston Chandler

High Desert Spadefoots looking for a Place to Breed

White-tailed Hognose Viper from Costa Rica - Photo: Steve Spear

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Indigomagazine significant snow pack most years, now there are many years where the snow pack is significantly less. Less snow in the mountains means less water in the rivers and a lower chance that water will reach the playa wetlands. On top of the variable snow pack, the water from the rivers is either held in reservoirs or diverted to canals for agricultural use.

So in years with a good snow pack and a spring runoff you can go to these rivers above the diversions and they are flowing to their banks with water.

But not far below the diversions the river beds are completely dry.

The Big Lost River Sinks rarely fill because of the combination of changing climate and water diversion for agriculture. In the last 20 years, I only know of two years where enough water made it to the playas for Great Basin Spadefoot Toads to breed. If this is the current rate, spadefoots breeding every 10 years, and that rate is decreasing as snow pack becomes more variable and there are greater water needs for agriculture, this once large-source population of Great Basin Spadefoot Toads could go locally extinct. The one year I was lucky enough to experience the breeding it was an incredible experience. Earlier that day

I canoed down the lower stretches of the Big Lost River (something that had never been possible prior) and spent the evening wading through the playa amongst hundreds of Great Basin Spadefoot Toads calling, breeding, and laying eggs. It makes me sad to know that this spectacle of wildlife may disappear in the future .

Sea Turtles against a Rising Tide

I have been lucky to experience sea turtles in the wild many times. The first time was on a family vacation in the Caribbean. We were snorkeling through a coral reef when one of us noticed that sea turtles kept surfacing periodically way out. Excitedly we swam out, slowing as we approached the area we thought the sea turtles had been seen. The ocean floor had changed dramatically, instead of coral it was mostly sand and grasses. As we swam along, I noticed the skull of a sea turtle in the sand. While I was contemplating how I could get the skull in the 20 or 30 foot deep water, someone tapped my shoulder. As I turned, I saw that they were pointing at a sea turtle swimming through the

Recenty hatched Sea Turtles - Photo: Noah Fields

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grasses below. After a couple minutes the turtle swam to the surface took a breath of air and dove back to the bottom. We spent the next hour swimming side by side with the turtles.

I have also spent many hours on beaches around the world looking for turtles. In Costa Rica, I spent the night with a group of colleagues studying sea turtle nests. We walked the beaches for hours and when we found a female turtle in her trance-like state laying eggs, we would gather data on her size and the number of eggs she was laying.

We also were able to find hatchling turtles as they emerged from the beach and raced their way down to the ocean.

All these experiences with sea turtles have given me a great appreciation for their biology and all the great conservation efforts underway for them. There has even been recent evidence that all of the efforts to conserve turtles and their nesting beaches for multiple decades is paying off with increasing numbers of turtles coming back to breed. But it was a recent trip that made me realize how the rising of sea levels could very quickly overwhelm these conservation efforts and cause sea turtle populations to decline again. I was on a barrier island off the coast of Georgia and while on the beach, one of the students monitoring sea turtles told me about how a recent hurricane caused an extremely high tide and many of the remaining sea turtle nests were lost. In addition, you could see that the hurricane had caused significant erosion to the beaches and the salt spray had killed many of the coastal plants. It seems that in recent years the occurrence of large hurricanes has increased and that some coastal areas are beginning to experience flooding.

As the overall temperature of the planet continues to rise and we see more of the glaciers melt, the beaches that sea turtles depend on could be lost.

We are already seeing signs of sea level

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Timber Rattlesnake - Photo: Chris Jenkins

me with reptiles and amphibians.

Adaptations such as frogs that brood their young in their mouths, snakes that can fly, and lizards that shoot blood from their eyes as a defense from predators. I would spend hours reading books, thirsting to learn all of these details. From the beginning one of the things that fascinated me most was the fact that reptiles and amphibians were ectotherms and how it affected their biology. As I have stated throughout this article, being ectotherms and so tightly linked to the physical environment is what makes them so susceptible to and bellwethers for climate change. If you are a professional herpetologist, field herper, or general reptile and amphibian enthusiast, I think that everyone with an interest in reptiles and amphibians and climate change should take an environmental physiology class. I took A Future for Reptile one during my doctorate and it was and Amphibians one of the greatest classes I have ever I have always been interested participated in. While physiology may in wildlife but it is the amazing not seem like a class you want to run adaptations that originally fascinated out and take, to truly understand the rise in cities like Charleston, SC and Miami, FL that experience flooding regularly. As the seas continue to rise and if the frequency of large hurricanes increases, we will experience not only more and more sea turtle nest failures, but also erosion of the nesting habitats turtles require. There is hope in that some beaches naturally form as other beaches naturally erode. But I suspect that the natural formation of beaches is a process that will lag behind the frequency of impacts from rising seas and changing climates. Sea turtles are truly one of the most unique groups of species we have on the planet and we need to be aware that changing climates could impact some of the positive conservation momentum we have had in recent years for these animals.

ecology of reptiles and amphibians, especially in the face of climate change, it is critical to understand aspects such as thermal biology.

If I am right and reptiles and amphibians are indeed more susceptible to climate changes than other species, I ask myself the question: what can we do about it? There are some issues in conservation biology that are so broad, large, or insidious that it can be difficult to wrap our heads around what to do to combat them. For example, there are some issues like invasive species that are so insidious, they move across a landscape so quickly and can take a great deal of effort to control in even a small area. I have thought about these types of issues for many years and have come to the resolution that it will take something just as insidious to solve these types of problems. A solution that is released into the system and quickly spreads to kill the invasive species. Climate change is like this in a sense, it is going to take a monumental effort that is much bigger than any one piece of land or project. It is going to take people and nations from around the world. From the perspective of Orianne, all we can do is make people aware it is happening, it is up to each of us individually to do small things. If enough people can take enough small actions, when those actions are all put together they will add up to something big. From turning your lights off when you are not using them to voting, every action you take has the potential to help save a biodiversity hotspot and prevent future trophic cascades.

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photos

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1.sarah martin

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Diamondback Terrapin

2.Mario Ramos

Smooth Green Snake

3.debora mann

Green Salamander

4.Margaret Nall 5.isaiah lieberenz Squirrel Tree Frog

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7.Alan Rivero Coral Snake

8.madden haag Wood Frog

9.Dennis quinn Bog Turtle

10.Arthur Thompson Gray Rat Snake

11.prestin tomborello Florida Pine Snake

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UPCOMING events January 2018

Future Events

Bas i c W i ld la n d Fi r e Aca d emy January 9-11, 2018

Places You've Never Herped: Vermont Date TBD (Late April-Early May)

Hard Labor Creek State Park Rutledge, GA

Longleaf 101 January 23-25, 2018 Savannah River Ecology Lab Windsor, SC

Watch Facebook for more details @OrianneSociety

Joint Meeting of Herpetologists and I c h t h yo l o g i s t s July 11-15, 2018

T u r t l e S u r v i va l A l l i a n c e A n n u a l M T G August 12-15, 2018

January 27, 2018

Coastfest

R ed H i lls Fi r e Fest Tall Timbers Tallahassee, FL

February 2018 Southeastern Wildlife Exposition

October 6, 2018 12th Biennial Longleaf Conference October 23-26, 2018 Alexandria, LA

February 16-18, 2018

Plantation Wildlife and Arts Festival

Charleston, SC

no 2018 dates listed yet Thomasville, GA

Southeastern Partners for Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Annual Meeting - February 22-25, 2018

The Great Artdoors Festival at the Hambidge Center no 2018 dates listed yet

Helen, GA

Rabun Gap, GA

March 2018 Claxton Wildlife and Rattlesnake Festival March 10-11, 2018 Claxton, GA

Longleaf 101 March 20-22, 2018

= The Orianne Society will be participating Want to announce an upcoming herpetology or land management event in the next issue of Indigo Magazine?

E-mail the event information to info@oriannesociety.org.

44 ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG WINTER ISSUE 2018

Eastern Milk Snake - Photo: Mario Ramos

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ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG WINTER ISSUE 2018 45

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MEMBER levels Our members are the backbone of our organization, and we cannot accomplish all we do without your support! We have expanded our membership program to offer differing levels of support to encourage members to become sustaining supporters of reptiles, amphibians and their habitats:

Spotted Salamander Membership: $35

• Car Decal • Invitations to Exclusive Events • Monthly E-newsletters • Bi-yearly Magazines (electronic) • Annual Report (electronic) • Bragging Rights!

Wood Turtle Membership: $100 In addition to the $35 member benefits, you’ll have the option to receive one of the following: • Printed Magazines and Reports • Limited Edition Print

Indigo Snake Membership: $150

Photo: Heidi Hall

In addition to the $35 member benefits, you’ll receive both of the following: • Printed Magazines and Reports • Limited Edition Print

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TAKE action

9

BECOME A SUSTAINING DONOR

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SPREAD THE WORD

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PLAN YOUR GIVING

Members can continue to support our conservation efforts throughout the year by scheduling a recurring donation of your choice on a monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly or yearly basis through our secure website or by contacting us directly.

We don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth when it comes to letting people know about our work and the ways they can contribute! Please consider sharing this magazine with others who have an interest in conservation, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Smooth Green Snake (Opheodrys vernalis) - Photo: Mario Ramos

Don’t just plan for your future—plan for the future of reptiles, amphibians and the great places they inhabit. Whether you prefer to set up an annual donation or a deferred gift, we can work with you to determine what you want your gift to support and how it will benefit these amazing animals and landscapes. Please contact us at info@oriannesociety.org or 706-224-1359 for more information about our planned giving opportunities.

Puerto Rican boa, (Chilabothrus inornatus) - Photo: Hari Parasu

Puerto Rican

Chilabothrus inornatus

Boa

www.OrianneSociety.org

Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Rana muscosa) and habitat - Photo: Isaac Chellman

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