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| Web URL(s): | http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/rpr/2000/72227,%20Frostburg,%20Howard.PDF
Last checked: 02/15/2013
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| Publication Type:
| Report |
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| Material Type: | Manuscript |
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| Monographic Author(s): | Howard, James H.; Julian, Shannon; Julian, James; Ferrigan, Jan |
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| Author Affiliation: | Howard: PI |
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| Monograph Title: | Golf Course Maintenance and Amphibian Conservation: [2000 Annual Report], [2000]. |
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| Publishing Information: | [Far Hills, New Jersey: United States Golf Association] |
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| # of Pages: | 44 |
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| Collation: | [2], 42 pp. |
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| Abstract/Contents: | "Purpose and Goals: Golfing as a recreational enterprise has grown dramatically in recent years and has spawned a nation-wide proliferation of new courses. New course construction increased nearly 400% between 1983 and 1993. In light of this phenomenon the industry is facing increased pressure to make development and maintenance of golf courses more sensitive to conservation issues (Frank 1993). Concurrently with the expansion of golfing, one of the most alarming revelations in the conversation community in recent years has been the reports of worldwide declines in amphibian populations (Blaustein and Wake 1990, Phillips 1990, Wake 1991). In many cases habitat reduction has been implicated as a major cause. Some conservation biologists see opportunities to create new breeding habitat for rarer species of amphibians in conjunction with golf course construction. Traditionally, the development of wetlands on golf courses has resulted in large open bodies of water suitable for fish and a few species of amphibians that can tolerate fish predation (i.e., bullfrogs and newts). The development of ephemeral wetlands that dry seasonally (therefore, free of fish and bullfrogs) are more suitable for most amphibian species. We designed experimental wetlands suitable for a diverse assemblage of amphibians to compare colonization of those wetlands with more traditional golf course water hazards on the same course. We also introduced two rarer species into these wetlands to test the efficacy of using designed wetlands to establish breeding populations of targeted amphibian species. Methodology: We identified a low-lying area (adjacent to a new Jack Nicholas course developed in Rocky Gap State park outside Cumberland, MD) and constructed six small ponds. The study design consisted of three pairs of ponds of approximately the same surface area. One of each of the pairs was graded to a depth of 30-50 cm and one to a depth of 70-100 cm. The deeper ponds were expected to hold water year round. To accelerate the establishment of suitable breeding conditions we planted one shoreline on each pond with emergent aquatic vegetation. All ponds were completely enclosed with drift fencing and pitfall traps so all animals entering or exiting the ponds could be captured, examined and marked. This technique is a standard method for monitoring pond-breeding amphibians (Dodd and Scott 1994). In addition to natural colonization we "stocked" each of the ponds with identical numbers of eggs of two target species (northern cricket frogs and Jefferson salamanders). In each of these newly constructed wetland areas we monitored hatching success, larval survivorship, percentage reaching metamorphosis and numbers returning to the wetlands as adults. Most amphibians show very high site fidelity (Duellman and Trueb 1986) so a high number of amphibians reaching metamorphosis should result in the return of adults to the pond once maturity has been reached. In addition, we monitored our wetlands and three larger "typical" golf course ponds for the number and composition of colonizing species using visual surveys for adults, egg masses and larvae and auditory surveys for calling adults throughout the breeding season. Results and Importance to Golf Industry: Translocation efforts- Over 100 eggs of each of the target species were translocated into each of the experimental ponds in 1998 and 1999. High hatching success, consistent with natural populations, was observed in both years and 117 and 10 metamorphosed juvenile Jefferson salamanders were marked and released in 1998 and 1999, respectively. Because of the difficulty of capturing the smaller chorus frogs only 12 and 4 metamorphs were marked in 1998 and 1999, respectively. We do not yet expect to see returning adult Jefferson salamanders because of the relatively long time to maturity, however we did capture returning adult chorus frogs in 1999 and located several chorus frog egg masses. We selected our study site, in part, because the terrestrial characteristics were suitable for amphibian species whose adult stages spend most of their time away from breeding sites. Our translocations appear to have been successful and demonstrate that with some attention to the appropriateness of terrestrial habitat and design of wetlands for breeding habitat, golf course wetlands can serve as release sites for rare amphibians and increase the number of breeding locations for species of special concern. Natural colonization- None of the six experimental ponds was occupied by predatory species (i.e., bullfrogs or fish), consequently we observed no significant differences among these ponds in the number of colonizing amphibians. We used egg numbers to evaluate differences in utilization among our shallow vs. deeper ponds and observed a tendency for spring breeding amphibians to make more frequent use of shallow bodies of water and summer breeding amphibians to use deeper, more permanent water, however these differences were not statistically significant. The greatest qualitative difference in colonization of wetlands by amphibians was between our sites that were designed as amphibian breeding habitat and the more conventional golf course water hazards. The water hazards had no emergent vegetation and were manicured to the water's edge, leaving no cover for adult amphibians. They were also large and open enough to be rapidly colonized by bullfrogs. By summer 1999 only one of those hazards was still in existence and it had been stocked with catfish. Although several species did attempt to colonize the water hazards they were not successful. In 1999 only one species, American Toads, successfully bred. That pond was stocked with catfish and all of the tadpoles disappeared prior to the time we would have expected to see newly emerged metamorphs. By contrast, five frog species (included some rarer taxa) and one salamander species successfully colonized our experimental wetlands and produced metamorphs. These differences reinforce our contention that traditional golf course wetlands (water hazards) are "death traps" for many amphibian species and point out the importance of rethinking wetland design of future golf course construction so these spaces may better serve wildlife conservation in addition to recreation. Dissemination: We are currently developing manuscripts to be submitted to regional ecological journals and will summarize our results for the USGA-Green Section to be made available on their web page." |
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| Language: | English |
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| References: | 39 |
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| See Also: | See also related summary article, "Golf course maintenance and amphibian conservation", 2000 Turfgrass and Environmental Research Summary [USGA], 2000, p. 78, R=72227. R=72227 |
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| Note: | Tables
Graphs
Also appears as pp. 330-374 in the USGA Turfgrass Research Committee Reporting Binders for 2000.
"Summary appears as abstract" |
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