Detecting Enigmatic Declines of a Once Common Salamander in the Coastal Plain of Georgia

Abstract

Abstract For amphibian species suspected of undergoing enigmatic declines, it is important to determine the effort required to confidently establish species absence. Desmognathus auriculatus (Southern Dusky Salamander) has purportedly gone from being quite common throughout the southeastern US Coastal Plain to now being enigmatically rare. We used repeated standardized surveys of 5 historically occupied streams and their adjacent riparian zones between 2007 and 2010 to estimate detection rate of Southern Dusky Salamanders. We detected Southern Dusky Salamanders at 3 of 5 historic sites. Mean detection rate across streams known to be occupied at least once during the study was moderately low (mean ± 1 SE = 0.20 ± 0.12 for a double-sampled 50-m survey), improved at 2 sites with increasing time since drought, and varied among streams. For comparison, we evaluated detection rates of several other stream salamanders and found those rates to range from 0.37 (± 0.07) for Eurycea quadridigitata (Dwarf Salamander)...