60 Nelson G. Hairston, St., and R. Haven Wiley 



Plethodon hybrids along altitudinal transects at the Coweeta Hydrologic 

 Laboratory, near Franklin, North Carolina, and in 1972 they also 

 recorded the ecological distribution of four species of Desmognathus 

 (Hairston 1973). In 1973 and 1974, N.G.H. studied a zone of intergrada- 

 tion between two forms of Plethodon jordani and the altitudinal 

 replacement of that species and P. glutinosus at Heintooga Overlook 

 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near the junction of the 

 Balsam Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains in Haywood and 

 Swain counties, North Carolina. The name glutinosus is controversial 

 for this form; Highton (1983) proposed the name teyahalee, which 

 we believe to be misapplied (Hairston 1992). 



N.G.H. also continued the observation of Plethodon hybrids at 

 Coweeta in 1974. Beginning in September 1976 and for each year 

 thereafter, we have led one to four (usually two) undergraduate 

 classes of 15 students each to both localities and made carefully 

 repeated observations of the same kind. 



At Heintooga, the students were instructed to capture 10 

 Plethodon, return with them to the vehicles, and examine the animals' 

 cheeks for the amount of red color; specimens were then returned to 

 the forest. The exercise was repeated at 3.2, 6.4, 9.7, 11.3, and 13.7 

 km along the National Park Service road to Round Bottom Camp 

 Ground, with species identifications made at the last two stops. The 

 elevations ranged from 1,600 m at the start to 1,350 m at the last 

 stop. At Coweeta, the same exercise was carried out at five elevations, 

 starting at 686 m and continuing up at 91.5-m intervals. We and the 

 students evaluated the amount of red on legs and the amount of 

 white on sides and back. Both of these exercises were performed at 

 night, beginning at dark. The Desmognathus exercise involved the 

 students collecting specimens and noting identification of each and 

 the distance from nearest surface water to where they were found. 

 The exercise requires a period of 2-2.5 hours in the afternoon. 



Each class exercise on Plethodon began at dark (2000 hours) 

 and ended at approximately the same time each night (2330 hours at 

 Heintooga and 2230 hours at Coweeta). The Desmognathus exercise 

 began at 1230 hours and ended at approximately 1430-1500 hours. 

 Thus, there has been no tendency to expend extra effort to observe 

 the same number of salamanders. 



RESULTS 



There has been no consistent trend in the number of individuals 



of any of the seven populations over the 15-20 years of the study 



(Figs. 1-3). All seven series show fluctuations greater than more exact 



studies showed over shorter periods near the sites reported here 



