North Carolina Stat 



Wishes 



F AM: 248 Belonidae 



Strongyiura timuct 



Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of M 



United States, Florida. Hilt 

 ulf of Mexico, beach and 

 ft Petersburg Beach 

 zt/Long: 27.6394° N, 82 j 

 ^lector(s): WCStarnes, I 

 »te Coll.: 5 October 1999 

 Id/Locality #: WGS-21& 

 MJL2 



acre 



entists Assess Habitats 



By Ann Green • Photographs by Ken Taylor 



' hen Alvin Braswell spotted a river frog along the edge of North Carolina' s Lumber 

 River in 1974, he didn't know that he had found a rare amphibian — the last river frog ever seen 

 in the state. 



"There was no indication that there was a population problem with this frog," says 

 Braswell, research laboratory director at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in 

 Raleigh. "We don't know what happened to the river frog." 



But thanks to Braswell' s keen eye for identifying amphibians, scientists, teachers and 

 others can view a specimen of the river frog in the museum's laboratory. 



Located in a modem building on Reedy Creek Road, the lab houses thousands of speci- 

 mens and skeletons offish, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates — from a water snake found 

 in 1890 to a needle fish recovered in Carteret County in 1999. The lab, which is open only by 

 appointment, also stores a small collection of bird and mammal specimens, including the 

 vertebrae of a whale. 



Most of the specimens are stored in jars of ethyl alcohol along gray shelves in dimly lit 

 rooms. The larger ones are kept in tanks on the floor. 



"Specimens are important because they tell us a lot about habitats in the state and the past 

 and present status of a species," says Braswell. 



For example, he says one species — the Neuse River water dog — is a permanent aquatic 

 salamander that lives only in the Neuse and Tar river basins. 



"The water dog has high oxygen requirements and only survives in flowing water," he 

 says. "Surveys indicate that the Neuse River water dog is absent from areas where there are 

 water quality problems. Areas below waste treatment plants in Raleigh and Rocky Mount didn't 

 have any water dogs." 



The disappearance of the Carolina gopher frog in New Hanover County also reflects 

 environmental changes in the state. 



"We haven't seen a gopher frog in New Hanover County in the last 10 years," says 

 Braswell. "The decline is a result of the loss of wetlands. There has been a lot of development in 

 New Hanover County." 



Braswell says that the marble salamander, spotted salamander, chorus frog and gray tree 

 frog that breed in ephemeral wetlands — shallow, temporary ponds that fill with water in the 

 mid- to late-winter and dry up later — have been seriously depleted in urban areas like New 

 Hanover, Wake, Durham, Orange and Mecklenberg counties. 



"Many ephemeral ponds in the flood plains have been disrupted by increased hard surfaces 

 and development," he says. 



Donated Specimens by the Thousand 



The museum collects its specimens from a variety of sources, including university 

 researchers, federal and state agencies, private citizens and museum staff. 

 "Even power companies send us specimens," says Braswell. 



