130 



Reptiles and Anipltihiaii.s— Our Lniiii; Resources 



I Reptiles S amphibians m range 

 of Longleaf pine 



ET/R/D 



Fig. 1. Reptiles and amphibians 

 within the southeastern Coastal 

 Plain. Green bars = total number; 

 Gold bars = number of species in 

 need of conservation and manage- 

 ment. E = endangered, T = threat- 

 ened. R = rare. D = declining. 



Fig. 2. Historical distribution of 

 the longleaf pine ecosystem in the 

 southeastern Coastal Plain. Chart 

 shows the present total number of 

 species of amphibians and reptiles 

 in various southeastern states. 



The effects of the loss of the longleaf pine 

 ecosystem on the herpetofaunal community 

 have never been assessed directly, but several 

 species are known to have been affected. For 

 example, the number of gopher tortoises, a key 

 species within the longleaf pine ecosystem, has 

 declined by an estimated 80% during the last 

 100 years (Auffenberg and Franz 1982), More 

 than 300 invertebrates and 65 vertebrates use 

 gopher tortoise burrows (Jackson and Milstrey 

 1989; Fig. 4), so an 80% reduction in gopher 

 tortoises could represent a substantial reduction 

 in the biodiversity of the longleaf pine ecosys- 

 tem. 



Amphibians that breed in temporary ponds 

 have been particularly affected both because of 

 direct habitat destruction and the slower loss of 

 wetland breeding sites by ditching. Breeding, 

 foraging, and overwintering sites are also 

 affected by certain types of forest plantation site 

 preparation. Only five populations of striped 

 newts remain in Georgia (Dodd 1993; L. 

 LaClaire, USFWS, personal communication); 

 the tlatwoods salamander has disappeared from 

 the eastern section of its range; gopher frogs are 

 nearly extirpated in North Carolina. Alabama, 

 and Mississippi; and dusky salamanders 

 (Desiiioi^iuiilius spp.) appear to have declined or 

 disappeared in coastal South Carolina and 

 peninsular Florida. 



On the other hand, the long-term communi- 

 ty studies at the Savanna River Site, where the 

 destructive effects of plantation forestry are not 

 prevalent, do not reveal declining trends, 

 although some amphibian populations there 

 fluctuate widely from one year to the next in 



80- 



60- 



"40- 



20- 



TTTi- 



rir rrp 





MC SC GA FL AL MS LA 



TX 



Longleaf pine 

 Urban areas 

 Human population 



15 

 13 

 11 



Fig. 3. Trend m loss of longleaf pine forest in relation to 

 urban development and increases in human population in 

 Florida, 19.^0-90 I Cerulean 1991; used with pemiission 

 from The Nature Conservancy). 



both numbers and reproductive output 

 (Pechmann et al. 1991). A 5-year study on a 

 north Florida biological preserve disclosed 

 declining amphibian numbers, but the study 

 coincided with a severe regional drought (Dodd 

 1992). In west-central Florida, amphibian com- 

 munities have changed composition because of 



Hg. 4. The distribution of the gopher tortoise (Gophenis 

 pohphemus) in the southeastern United States. The chart 

 shows the number of species of various taxa known to use 

 its burrow and the number of plant taxa described from the 

 longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem. 



