148 
J. Whitfield Gibbons and Julian R. Harrison III 
document the presence and abundance of as many species of reptiles and 
amphibians as possible. Baited hoop nets, drift fences with pitfall traps 
(Gibbons and Bennett 1974), seining, road collecting, muddling in aqua- 
tic areas, and general collecting were the most extensively used methods. 
Visual counts were made of alligators. Alligator mississippiensis, on the 
various lakes during both day and night. Records were kept of road- 
killed amphibians and reptiles on Kiawah, and of those reported or 
brought in by residents or workers on either island. Quantitative data 
were collected in four ways: 1) 50-foot drift fences, with perpendicular 
fencing at each end, and pitfall traps; 2) visual counts of alligators; 3) 
equal-effort visual censuses along transects, corresponding to vegeta- 
tional analysis transects used by Gaddy (in preparation); each transect 
was walked by a single investigator who noted all reptiles or amphibians 
seen or heard during a one hour period; and 4) mark-release-recapture 
sampling of turtles in Greene Pond. Each of these methods and their 
results will be discussed separately below. 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
A total of 31 species of reptiles (24) and amphibians (7) are known to 
occur on Kiawah and Capers islands (Tables 1 and 2). These represent 20 
Table 1. Cumulative summary of reptiles and amphibians from Kiawah and 
Capers Islands compared to mainland occurrences; excludes Caretta 
and Malaclemys. Species names are given in Table 2. 
Mainland Only 
Kiawah 
Capers 
Reptiles 
Families 
1 
9 
8 
Genera 
17 
20 
11 
Species 
32 
24 
11 
Amphibians 
Families 
5 
6 
3 
Genera 
13 
6 
3 
Species 
36 
7 
4 
All Herps 
Families 
6 
15 
11 
Genera 
30 
26 
14 
Species 
68 
31 
15 
