ably the floodplain's most abundant verte- 

 brate in either numbers or biomass. In a 

 northern hardwood forest just one species 

 of salamander ( Plethodon cinereus ) made 

 five times more new tissue than the entire 

 bird community, and the biomass of all 

 salamander species was larger than the 

 biomass of breeding birds (Burton and 

 Likens 1975). Net annual production of 

 new tissue by the salamander population 

 was about equal to that of mice and shrews 

 (Potter 1974). 



SUMMARY OF FAUNAL UTILIZATION 



Faunal resources and diversity among 

 the floodplain zones are summarized in 

 Table 17. The near upland areas of Zone 

 V, although the least extensive of the 



floodplain zones, support the greatest 

 faunal diversity (Wharton et al . 1981). 

 With Zone IV, Zone V provides larger 

 amounts of forage foods than more inun- 

 dated zones which lack either nut-bearing 

 hardwoods or a subcanopy and ground cover 

 bearing fruits, berries, and seeds. Zones 

 II and III, important for detrital produc- 

 tion and transport, are the primary sites 

 of aquatic secondary production on the 

 floodplain. Coupling between zones not- 

 withstanding (see Chapter 6), it appears 

 in summary that the faunal regimes of the 

 floodplain can be divided into (1) a 

 detritus-dominated aquatic regime centered 

 in Zone .11 (and to a lesser extent in 

 Zones III-V) and (2) a grazing-foraging 

 food web in Zones IV and V that is more 

 terrestrial than aquatic. 



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