Lack of Significant Changes in the Herpetofauna of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, Since the 1920s

Authors

Blake R. Hossack, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute
Paul Stephen Corn, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute
David S. Pilliod, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research InstituteFollow

Date of this Version

4-11-2005

Comments

Published in The American Midland Naturalist 154 (2005).

Abstract

We surveyed 88 upland wetlands and 12 1-km river sections for amphibians in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, during 2001–2002 to gather baseline data for future monitoring efforts and to evaluate changes in the distribution of species. We compared our results to collections of herpetofauna made during 1920–1922, 1954 and 1978–1979. The boreal chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata) was the most common amphibian in upland wetlands, followed by the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum), Woodhouse’s toad (Bufo woodhousii), northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens), plains spadefoot (Spea bombifrons) and the Great Plains toad (B. cognatus). Bufo woodhousii was the only species that bred in the river. Our records for reptiles are less complete than for amphibians but no losses from the community are evident. The herpetofauna in Theodore Roosevelt National Park seems unchanged during at least the last half-century and likely since 1920–1922.