Abstract
Road construction of the Redwood National Park highway bypass resulted in a large accidental infusion of fine sediments into pristine streams in Prairie Creek State Park, California, during an October 1989 storm event. This incident provided a natural experiment where we could measure, compare, and evaluate native stream amphibian densities as indicators of stream ecosystem stress. We employed a habitat-based, stratified sampling design to assess the impacts of these sediments on the densities of aquatic amphibians in five impacted streams by comparing them with densities in five adjacent, unimpacted (control) streams. Three species were sampled in numbers sufficient to be informative: tailed frogs (Ascaphus truei, larvae), Pacific giant salamanders (Dicamptodon tenebrosus, paedomorphs and larvae), and southern torrent salamanders (Rhyacotriton variegatus, adults and larvae). Densities of amphibians were significantly lower in the streams impacted by sediment. While sediment effects were species specific,...
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