Three decades of urbanization: Estimating the impact of land-cover change on stream salamander populations

Steven J. Price; Michael E. Dorcas; Alisa L. Gallant; Robert W. Klaver; John D. Willson

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.07.005

Three decades of urbanization: Estimating the impact of land-cover change on stream salamander populations

Steven J. Price, Michael E. Dorcas, Alisa L. Gallant, Robert W. Klaver, John D. Willson

Forestry and Natural Resources

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

91 Scopus citations

Abstract

Urbanization has become the dominant form of landscape disturbance in parts of the United States. Small streams in the Piedmont region of the eastern United States support high densities of salamanders and are often the first habitats to be affected by landscape-altering factors such as urbanization. We used US Geological Survey land cover data from 1972 to 2000 and a relation between stream salamanders and land cover, established from recent research, to estimate the impact of contemporary land-cover change on the abundance of stream salamanders near Davidson, North Carolina, a Piedmont locale that has experienced rapid urbanization during this time. Our analysis indicates that southern two-lined salamander (Eurycea cirrigera) populations have decreased from 32% to 44% while northern dusky salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus) have decreased from 21% to 30% over the last three decades. Our results suggest that the widespread conversion of forest to urban land in small catchments has likely resulted in a substantial decline of populations of stream salamanders and could have serious effects on stream ecosystems.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	436-441
Number of pages	6
Journal	Biological Conservation
Volume	133
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2006.07.005
State	Published - Dec 2006

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the many private landowners for use of their property to sample salamanders. Charles R. Peterson provided valuable advice and encouragement during the development of this project. Sandra Franken supplied the high-resolution USGS EDNA catchment boundaries used for our analysis. We thank Stephen C. Richter, Terry Sohl, Kristine Verdin and Craig Walters for providing comments on the manuscript. Manuscript preparation was aided by the Environmental Remediation Sciences Division of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research, US Department of Energy through Financial Assistance Award (DE-FC09-96SR18546) to the University of Georgia Research Foundation. Funding was provided by the Department of Biology at Davidson College, National Science Foundation grant (DEB – 0347326) to M.E.D., Duke Power, and the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.

Keywords

Desmognathus fuscus
Eurycea cirrigera
Land cover change
North Carolina
Northern dusky salamander
Southern two-lined salamander
Urban sprawl

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Nature and Landscape Conservation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.biocon.2006.07.005

Cite this

@article{d68c56bb4e4c4b97b24605cd67158bdd,

title = "Three decades of urbanization: Estimating the impact of land-cover change on stream salamander populations",

abstract = "Urbanization has become the dominant form of landscape disturbance in parts of the United States. Small streams in the Piedmont region of the eastern United States support high densities of salamanders and are often the first habitats to be affected by landscape-altering factors such as urbanization. We used US Geological Survey land cover data from 1972 to 2000 and a relation between stream salamanders and land cover, established from recent research, to estimate the impact of contemporary land-cover change on the abundance of stream salamanders near Davidson, North Carolina, a Piedmont locale that has experienced rapid urbanization during this time. Our analysis indicates that southern two-lined salamander (Eurycea cirrigera) populations have decreased from 32% to 44% while northern dusky salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus) have decreased from 21% to 30% over the last three decades. Our results suggest that the widespread conversion of forest to urban land in small catchments has likely resulted in a substantial decline of populations of stream salamanders and could have serious effects on stream ecosystems.",

keywords = "Desmognathus fuscus, Eurycea cirrigera, Land cover change, North Carolina, Northern dusky salamander, Southern two-lined salamander, Urban sprawl",

author = "Price, {Steven J.} and Dorcas, {Michael E.} and Gallant, {Alisa L.} and Klaver, {Robert W.} and Willson, {John D.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the many private landowners for use of their property to sample salamanders. Charles R. Peterson provided valuable advice and encouragement during the development of this project. Sandra Franken supplied the high-resolution USGS EDNA catchment boundaries used for our analysis. We thank Stephen C. Richter, Terry Sohl, Kristine Verdin and Craig Walters for providing comments on the manuscript. Manuscript preparation was aided by the Environmental Remediation Sciences Division of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research, US Department of Energy through Financial Assistance Award (DE-FC09-96SR18546) to the University of Georgia Research Foundation. Funding was provided by the Department of Biology at Davidson College, National Science Foundation grant (DEB – 0347326) to M.E.D., Duke Power, and the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative. ",

year = "2006",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1016/j.biocon.2006.07.005",

language = "English",

volume = "133",

pages = "436--441",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Three decades of urbanization

T2 - Estimating the impact of land-cover change on stream salamander populations

AU - Price, Steven J.

AU - Dorcas, Michael E.

AU - Gallant, Alisa L.

AU - Klaver, Robert W.

AU - Willson, John D.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the many private landowners for use of their property to sample salamanders. Charles R. Peterson provided valuable advice and encouragement during the development of this project. Sandra Franken supplied the high-resolution USGS EDNA catchment boundaries used for our analysis. We thank Stephen C. Richter, Terry Sohl, Kristine Verdin and Craig Walters for providing comments on the manuscript. Manuscript preparation was aided by the Environmental Remediation Sciences Division of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research, US Department of Energy through Financial Assistance Award (DE-FC09-96SR18546) to the University of Georgia Research Foundation. Funding was provided by the Department of Biology at Davidson College, National Science Foundation grant (DEB – 0347326) to M.E.D., Duke Power, and the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.

PY - 2006/12

Y1 - 2006/12

N2 - Urbanization has become the dominant form of landscape disturbance in parts of the United States. Small streams in the Piedmont region of the eastern United States support high densities of salamanders and are often the first habitats to be affected by landscape-altering factors such as urbanization. We used US Geological Survey land cover data from 1972 to 2000 and a relation between stream salamanders and land cover, established from recent research, to estimate the impact of contemporary land-cover change on the abundance of stream salamanders near Davidson, North Carolina, a Piedmont locale that has experienced rapid urbanization during this time. Our analysis indicates that southern two-lined salamander (Eurycea cirrigera) populations have decreased from 32% to 44% while northern dusky salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus) have decreased from 21% to 30% over the last three decades. Our results suggest that the widespread conversion of forest to urban land in small catchments has likely resulted in a substantial decline of populations of stream salamanders and could have serious effects on stream ecosystems.

AB - Urbanization has become the dominant form of landscape disturbance in parts of the United States. Small streams in the Piedmont region of the eastern United States support high densities of salamanders and are often the first habitats to be affected by landscape-altering factors such as urbanization. We used US Geological Survey land cover data from 1972 to 2000 and a relation between stream salamanders and land cover, established from recent research, to estimate the impact of contemporary land-cover change on the abundance of stream salamanders near Davidson, North Carolina, a Piedmont locale that has experienced rapid urbanization during this time. Our analysis indicates that southern two-lined salamander (Eurycea cirrigera) populations have decreased from 32% to 44% while northern dusky salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus) have decreased from 21% to 30% over the last three decades. Our results suggest that the widespread conversion of forest to urban land in small catchments has likely resulted in a substantial decline of populations of stream salamanders and could have serious effects on stream ecosystems.

KW - Desmognathus fuscus

KW - Eurycea cirrigera

KW - Land cover change

KW - North Carolina

KW - Northern dusky salamander

KW - Southern two-lined salamander

KW - Urban sprawl

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33751350652&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33751350652&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.biocon.2006.07.005

DO - 10.1016/j.biocon.2006.07.005

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:33751350652

SN - 0006-3207

VL - 133

SP - 436

EP - 441

JO - Biological Conservation

JF - Biological Conservation

IS - 4

ER -

Three decades of urbanization: Estimating the impact of land-cover change on stream salamander populations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this