California Tiger Salamander- Erin Ichimura


Erin Ichimura


1.    Ecology and Description

     The California tiger salamander is an endangered amphibian native to Santa Barbara and the Sonoma County region. It has a stocky body and a rounded broad snout, and a blackish body with cream or yellow spots. It has a large body for a salamander, adults reaching up to 7-8 inches. Their underbellies are white or pale yellow to a varied pattern of white or pale yellow and black. They have brown eyes and black irises. 
     They spend most of their lives on land- they spend one-fourth of their lives underground. They live in the empty holes of ground squirrels and other burrowing mammals, due to their poor digging abilities. Every breeding season (wet nights in November) some travel up to a mile to reach the seasonal or vernal pools where they breed. Salamnders don't reach sexual maturity until 4-5 years, and even then they can only reproduce once. Some never reproduce or don't make it to the age of sexual maturity.
     They begin their lives as larvae in vernal pools or seasonal ponds. In their larval stage, they eat algae, mosquito larvae, tadpoles, and insects, while adults eat mostly insects. The California tiger salamander’s natural predators are birds such as herons and egrets, fish, and bullfrogs. 

In their larval stage they have external gills that shrink when reaching adulthood.

 


A good size reference- this salamander is about 7-8 inches, a regular adult.


2.      Cause of listing and Main threats to its continued existence

     External threats to this species include habitat fragmentation and loss of habitat from urban development and farming. This includes the introduction of nonnative predators such as bullfrogs, which kill larvae and nonnative salamanders that have been imported for use as fish bait and may out-compete the California tiger salamanders.
     Because of their permeable skin, California tiger salamanders or more susceptible to poisons used to control other species, such as waterborne mosquito populations and ground squirrels. The use of pesticides for mosquito abatement, such as methoprene, may have an indirect adverse effect on the California tiger salamander by reducing the availability of their primary prey, insects.
     Cars and off-road vehicles kill a significant number of migrating California tiger salamanders, and contaminated runoff from roads, highways and agriculture may adversely affect them.
      Local populations are also prone to extinction because of the lack of contiguous areas of vernal pools (breeding habitat) containing multiple breeding ponds to ensure recolonization of individual ponds.

A vernal pool in Santa Barbara, CA.



3.     Geographic and Population Changes

     The California tiger salamander is found in the Sonoma County region, the Santa Barbara County region, San Luis Obispo County region, and the San Francisco Bay Area region. It can be found at altitudes of up to 3,500 feet In all of these regions it is either endangered or threatened. 
    
Distribution of the California tiger salamander.     



4.    Listing Date and Type of Listing

     There are currently three main populations of salamanders that are currently being monitored. The first population was first located in 2000 in the Santa Barbara region and is still currently endangered. The second population is listed as endangered and was located in 2002 in the Sonoma county region, and the last was found in 2004 in the Central Valley region and is listed at threatened. The Sonoma population appears to have been geographically isolated from the remainder of the California tiger salamander population by distance, mountains and major waterway barriers for more than 700,000 years.
     In 2005, the U.S. fish and Wildlife Service designated 199,109 acres of critical habitat in 19 counties for the central population (Central Valley region).
   

They prefer moist, leafy environments.



5.      Description of Recovery Plan

     Since the main external threat to this species is habitat loss and fragmentation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has decided to protect and conserve the remaining aquatic and land habitat that is used by the California tiger salamander. Part of the plan is also dedicated to the reduction of habitat fragmentation and slowing down the process of urbanization in areas where the salamander population lives.
      The main goals of the recovery plan include protecting the species' habitat and reducing fragmentation, removing threats such as non-native and competitive species, and removing the species from the endangered and threatened list.

6.       What can you do?

      You can donate to the Center for Biological Diversity to help save them here-
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/amphibians/California_tiger_salamander/index.html


7.       Other resources

       Here's a six minute video about California tiger salamanders-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jH8nIFYQY0

Sources:


Comments

  1. DrWildlifeMarch 11, 2018 at 7:45 PM

    Nice blog! I have never heard about these salamanders before, even though I live in California. I thought it was interesting that they spend 1/4th of their lives underground. And since we have so much ag here, it is sad that the pesticides are affecting their populations.
    - Gina Harris

    ReplyDelete
  2. DrWildlifeMarch 11, 2018 at 9:46 PM

    I love learning that they live underground in the abandoned homes of other burrowing animals because they are bad diggers themselves. I didn't realize that because of their permeable skin they are being harmed by all of the pesticides California uses to grow crops.
    -Emily Holloway

    ReplyDelete
  3. DrWildlifeMarch 12, 2018 at 3:52 PM

    The pictures of the salamanders were really cute, especially when it looks like its smiling. I did not know they were more susceptible to poisons used to control other species from our pesticide which was interesting.
    -Julia Galvan

    ReplyDelete
  4. DrWildlifeMarch 12, 2018 at 5:36 PM

    While reading these blogs it is so sad to see so many species are being affected by habitat destruction and fragmentation. I also think its super cool you included that video link! Nice job!
    -Cierra Heiland

    ReplyDelete
  5. DrWildlifeMarch 12, 2018 at 8:26 PM

    Cool blog, I though the picture were all really good. That is so cool that they live a decent part of their life underground!
    -Dean Harris

    ReplyDelete
  6. DrWildlifeMarch 15, 2018 at 11:19 AM

    What a fascinating post. Such a sad tale about the habitat loss from destruction and fragmentation. My grandma lives in Sonoma, I will tell her to keep her eyes peeled for this cool salamander :-)
    -Elisabeth Huetter

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Equus Ferus Przewalski- Steel Humphry

Image
Przewalski's Horse Equus Ferus Przewalski By Steel Humphry Equus Ferus Przewalski Stallion in  Khustain Nuruu National Park, Mongolia Taken by Paul Jones Characteristics Thought to be a undomesticated descendent from the horses of the ancient Botai, the Equus Ferus Przewalski, better known as Przewalski's Horse, is one of the last "wild" horse breeds. Contrary to popular belief, recent genetic studies indicate that the Przewalski's Horse is not an ancestor to the modern domesticated horses, equus caballus. The Przewalski's Horse has some major differences from the domesticated horse breeds. Aside from differing visual characteristics, the Przewalski's Horse has 66 chromosomes, while the domesticated horse only has 64. However, the offspring of the domesticated horses and the Przewalski's Horse is still fertile and contains 65 chromosomes. The Przewalski's Horse originated from the eastern Eurasian Steppes and had a range from the ...
Read more

Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel || Elisabeth Huetter

Image
Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel By: Elisabeth Huetter (Source: www.forums.applenova.com) What is the Carolina Northe rn Flying Squirrel? The Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel  (Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus)  is a small nocturnal gliding mammal that is found in the Southern Appalachians  (ECOS Species Profile). When full grown, the squirrel is ten to twelve inches long and three to five ounces in weight.  Adults  have bright cinnam on-brown fur on their backs, gray fur on their faces and the tip of the tail, and grayish-white fur on the belly . One of the squirrels most noticeable attributes is their broad, flattened tail and folds of skin between the wrist and ankle that create an aerodynamic surface that help let the squirrel "fly" from tree to tree . (Source: www.sierralegacy.org) Where can the Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel be found? The Northern Flying Squirrel is primarily found in the high elevat...
Read more

Loggerhead Sea Turtle // Emily Holloway

Image
Caretta carretta The Loggerhead Turtle By: Emily Holloway Description and Ecology Loggerhead turtles get their name from their exceptionally  large heads that contain powerful jaw muscles used to crush hard-shelled prey such as sea urchins and clams. They are the most common sea turtle species  in the Mediterranean and in U.S. waters, but can be found in numerous areas of the ocean around the world. L oggerheads are primarily carnivorous feeding mainly on shellfish that live on the bottom of the ocean. They eat clams, mussels, horseshoe crabs, and other invertebrates along with some fish and jellyfish.  Their front flippers are short and thick with 2 claws and the rear flippers can have 2-3 claws. This sea turtle species is the largest of all hard-shelled turtles with a reddish-brown coloring on their heart-shaped carapace and dorsal scales of the head and fins. These scales are lined with light to medium yellow margin...
Read more