2015 : larval salamanders to desert lizards (& bugs & more)

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mfb
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2015 : larval salamanders to desert lizards (& bugs & more)

Post by mfb »

I've been enjoying reading so many of these 2015 reviews that I decided to add mine. I don't take as many photos as I used to, but I did take shots of a few of my favorite herps, as well as some inverts, plants, fish and mammals. I've organized these by location. I live in northeast Ohio, so many of my photos are from that region. But I also had the chance to take a few trips to other places in 2015.

Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Snowy winter gave me a chance to watch squirrels playing in the snow.



I love the spring thaw when we get the early breeding herps on the move, including wood frogs, spring peepers, and Ambystoma salamanders.

Wood frogs are always a treat to observe. Here are two males battling it out. It almost looks like the wood frog on the right is trying a double-leg takedown on the other woodfrog. One of my goals for 2016 is to get some decent video of wood frogs calling, wrestling, and mating in the breeding ponds.

ImageWrestling Male Wood Frogs by Mike Benard, on Flickr
And a male wood frog hanging out:
ImageMale Wood Frog at the Breeding Pond by Mike Benard, on Flickr
And a female wood frog (in a reddish color form) also hanging out at the pond:
ImageFemale Wood Frog at the Breeding Pond by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Shortly before the wood frog breeding season, I published a paper from a long-term research study in the March issue of the journal Global Change Biology. In this paper I examined how winter weather was associated with wood frog breeding date, fecundity, and tadpole development. Warmer winters were associated with earlier dates of breeding. This was not surprising; several other biologists have shown that many spring breeding amphibians are breeding earlier now than they were decades ago. For example, Gibbs and Breisch showed that wood frogs in the 1990s were breeding about two weeks earlier compared to when they used to breed in the early 1900s. One of the main new observations from my paper was that female wood frogs produced significantly fewer eggs after warm winters than after cold winters. The most likely explanation for this is that warmer winters increase wood frog metabolism, causing them to use more energy. We are currently running some outdoor winter experiments to test this.

A calling spring peeper.
ImageCleveland Spring Peeper by Mike Benard, on Flickr

A newt photobombs a mating pair of spring peepers:
ImageNewt photobombs mating spring peepers by Mike Benard, on Flickr

A smallmouth salamander (Ambystoma texanum) next to a hybrid Ambystoma:
ImageTwo female Ambystoma salamanders by Mike Benard, on Flickr

In some of our Ambystoma breeding ponds toe deformities like this are quite common:

ImageHybrid Ambystoma salamander with funny toe deformity. by Mike Benard, on Flickr

We are currently involved in a habitat-restoration project with smallmouth and hybrid salamanders. We are currently validating the use of belly-pattern marks to individually identify salamanders. Here is a photo showing the distinct belly-pattern of a hybrid Ambystoma.

ImageAmbystoma Belly Pattern by Mike Benard, on Flickr

A few weeks after the initial spring burst of amphibian breeding, I spent an evening watching an American Toad breeding chorus. Had a lot of fun that night, and wrote about it in an earlier FHF post.

ImageToads in amplexus surrounded by eggs by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Partway through the spring I had to remove an Aerial Yellowjacket nest from a high-traffic area. Inspired by an exercise my college entomology professor did years ago, I froze the nest and then dissected it. You can see more photos in my blog post about the inside of the yellowjacket wasp next. But here is my favorite photo, showing four different life stages: egg, larvae, pupae, adult.

ImageAerial Yellowjacket Wasp Nest by Mike Benard, on Flickr

I also spent some time photographing tadpoles in the spring and summer. Here is an American Toad larvae.

ImageAmerican Toad Tadpole with Hind Legs by Mike Benard, on Flickr


And here are two Gray Treefrog tadpoles. The two gray treefrog tadpoles developed in different environments. The gray treefrog tadpole with the red tail developed in a pond with plenty of predators, while the other gray treefrog developed in a pond without predators. The bright red tail & dark edge color likely acts as a lure to distract the attacks of predatory insects away from the tadpole’s vulnerable body and towards the tail tip. Tadpoles with the bright red tails are more likely to survive attacks by predators than tadpoles without the bright red tail tip.

ImageGray Treefrog Tadpole Variation by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Also photographed a number of the invertebrates that coexist with amphibians in and out of aquatic environments. I've recently blogged some of my favorite insect observations from 2015. Here is one of them, a creeping water bug (Naucoridae) that can give a nice little stinging bite:

ImageCreeping Water Bug by Mike Benard, on Flickr

As the summer went on, I came across a few snapping turtles moving over the land. In a few cases I carefully moved them across roads.

ImageYoung Snapping Turtle by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageSnapping Turtle crossing the road by Mike Benard, on Flickr

This one had some damage to its beak that made it appear to have a serious underbite:

ImageUnderbite snapping turtle by Mike Benard, on Flickr

I also started playing around more with taking photos of herps on white backgrounds. Here is a pickerel frog metamorph and a toad on white backgrounds:

ImagePickerel Frog looking at you by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageAmerican Toad on white background by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Late in the summer we had one of our studies on the effects of road salt on wood frogs published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The story also got some traction in local news outlets like the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The project was led by one of my doctoral students, Kacey Dananay. Road salt is widely used in the Midwest and Northeast as a de-icer on roads in the winter. Unfortunately, that salt (and other associated additives) get washed off the roads into local wetlands where they could harm amphibians. We found that wood frog tadpoles developing in wetlands with low concentrations of road salt contamination experienced a delayed toxicity effect. They were fine as tadpoles, but died at a much higher rate (up to 40% mortality vs. 0% in controls) compared to wood frogs not exposed to road salt. These results suggested that assays of de-icer toxicity that are limited to the tadpole stage may underestimate the negative effects of de-icer contamination.

In September there were plenty of baby Redback Salamanders hidden under leaves and logs in the forest. Here is one next to a penny for scale:

ImageBaby Redback Salamander with Penny by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Allegany County, New York.

Took a few trips to Allegany County, New York, and saw quite a few herps. Poking around this stream revealed some Blacknose Dace and Spring Salamanders. Also saw some dusky salamanders, but didn't take good photos of them. Two-lined salamanders also used to be common in this stream, but I've seen very few since the water level went up and the Dace moved in.

ImageBlacknose Dace Habitat by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageSpring Salamander Habitat by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageMale Blacknose Dace by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageSpring Salamander Larvae by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageSpring Salamander Larvae by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Also saw a few adult toads and lots of recently metamorphosed toads. The recently metamorphosed toads were all over the place, and quite hard to see when they weren't moving around.

ImagePortrait of an American Toad by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageBaby Toad Under Mushroom by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageBaby American Toads Under Mushroom by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Also saw Ringneck Snakes and Redbelly Snakes hanging out under the same cluster of rocks right on the edge of a field & forest intersection. Ringnecks are cool little snakes, and it is fun to consider how much their color patterns vary across North America

ImageRingneck Snake by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageRed Bellied Snake by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageHabitat for Ringneck Snake & RedBellly Snake by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Also saw one of my favorite woodland plants, Indian Pipe. The white color is from a lack of chlorophyll. This plant makes its living by parasitizing other plants.

ImageGhost Plant by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Swain County, North Carolina

Spent a week with family in Swain County North Carolina and saw quite a few wonderful herps. A walk down a gravel road one rainy night brought out a whole host of frogs and salamanders. Only took photos of a few.

ImageAmerican Toad by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageRed Salamander by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageRed Eft in Swain County North Carolina by Mike Benard, on Flickr

I think this is Desmognathus ocoee, but would welcome other opinions.
ImageJuvenile Desmognathus salamander by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Also out on that rainy night was this big katydid trying to eat a snail. It actually bit through the snail's shell, but jumped off when I got too close trying to get a photo. Before this night, I hadn't known there were carnivorous katydids.

ImageTettigoniinae Katydid trying to eat snail by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Of course, I also had to try the Nantahala Brewing Company's Hellbender Hefeweizen. It was quite refreshing, and I couldn't event taste the Hellbender in it.

ImageNantahala Brewing Company: Hellbender Hefeweizen by Mike Benard, on Flickr

New Mexico (Mostly Socorro County)
Also visited New Mexico for another family reunion, and got to do some herping there as well.

This woodpile was a battleground for Desert Spiny Lizards.

ImageWoodpile in New Mexico by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageDesert Spiny Lizard by Mike Benard, on Flickr



Lots of lizards running around on the mesas, but I found the robber flies to be especially fun to watch. Saw quite a few of them picking off bees.

ImageSocorro County, NM by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageRobber Fly Eating Bee by Mike Benard, on Flickr

Near Santa Cruz, California
Right around Christmas we visited northern California to spend time with family over the holidays. I didn't get much herping in, but did see some fence lizards, slender salamanders, and Ensatina.

On this trip I also experienced my natural history highlight of 2015: observing Elephant Seals bellowing and fighting on the beach during breeding season.

ImageBellowing Male Elephant Seal by Mike Benard, on Flickr

ImageMale Elephant Seal Resting by Mike Benard, on Flickr



And one of the last wild herps of 2015 for me was this Slender Salamander:

ImageSlender Salamander Portrait by Mike Benard, on Flickr
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cbernz
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Re: 2015 : larval salamanders to desert lizards (& bugs & mo

Post by cbernz »

mfb wrote:And here are two Gray Treefrog tadpoles. The two gray treefrog tadpoles developed in different environments. The gray treefrog tadpole with the red tail developed in a pond with plenty of predators, while the other gray treefrog developed in a pond without predators. The bright red tail & dark edge color likely acts as a lure to distract the attacks of predatory insects away from the tadpole’s vulnerable body and towards the tail tip. Tadpoles with the bright red tails are more likely to survive attacks by predators than tadpoles without the bright red tail tip.
Very interesting. I didn't know about the two morphs. In my ponds, they all seem to have the mottled red-and-black tails. At night, I often see them hanging stationary underneath the surface tension. They look very much like rotting leaves, and I always assumed that their coloration was more of a camouflage than anything.
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Re: 2015 : larval salamanders to desert lizards (& bugs & mo

Post by mfb »

Thanks!

The tadpole tail shape and color is more of a gradient than a present/absent morph. The two tads represent different points along a continuum. I've also found the pale morph to be rare in the wild, probably less than 5% of the wetlands I have looked in. Where I see them is shallow temporary pools that predators have not substantially colonized. The pale tadpole shown here grew up in a 300 gallon artificial pond with no predators present. The red-tailed tadpole grew up in a natural pond with lots of dragonfly nymphs (you can see the big wound on its tail, probably from a predator).

Tadpoles have all sorts of interesting developmental defenses. Most aren't as obvious as the red tail. Many tads make deeper tails when they smell predatory insects, but shallower tails (with bigger tail muscles) when they smell predatory fish.

Perhaps my favorite tadpole induced defense is the Bulgy Morph tadpole. Osamu Kishida and colleagues have described a defense where tadpole bodies fill up like beach balls when the tads detect predatory salamanders. The bulgy tadpoles are then too big to fit into the salamanders' mouths.
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