In the Field with Emma: Salamanders!
This newsletter marks my final week working with KELT, so I thought I’d use my last “In the Field” post to share a little bit about the main project I’ve been working on over the course of the summer…
During the past 9 weeks, the charming and elusive red-backed salamander has taken up a substantial portion of my brainspace as I’ve worked to start a new community science program for KELT. Researchers are beginning to see red-backed salamanders as an important study subject for a whole host of reasons, and KELT has decided to join the effort. A number of interns have worked to get this project running over the past couple years, and I’m the lucky one who will get to see the study plots go in at KELT preserves.
My first salamander find: a shiny red-back among goldthread roots at Green Point Preserve.
My summer started with a whole lot of background reading on these salamanders, who I’ve discovered to be fascinating creatures. They are amphibians, but fully terrestrial; their larval stage happens while they’re inside the egg, and they lose their gills as they hatch into tiny land-lubbers. Because they don’t need access to aquatic environments, they take advantage of any patch of forested land, living in forests, backyards, city parks, and more. But they are lungless, instead exchanging gasses through their skin, which in turn must be kept moist and cool. To this end, red-backs spend the majority of their time either burrowed into the ground or in shady, damp spots beneath logs and branches on the forest floor, staying cool and keeping their metabolism as low as possible. They forage for insects and other small invertebrates at night and after rains, with their foraging range expanding during spring and fall. And red-backs are homebodies living within a complex social structure: they inhabit, mark, and defend territories that they return to even when displaced.
My first encounter with an actual red-back came when Ruth and I hit the woods at Green Point Preserve to check out some potential monitoring sites. We weren’t sure if the spot we’d found was moist enough for red-backs, but I figured if I could find one of them in the middle of summer then the location was definitely good enough for monitoring in the spring and fall. We started hunting around under logs and branches, and sure enough, under my second log sat a tiny red-backed salamander, stock still in the sudden exposure to sun and air. It was a perfect specimen, shiny and brown-black with the eponymous rusty stripe brushed down its back, but its size and fragility startled me. Millimeter-wide toes splayed out from short, spindly legs, thin enough to be almost translucent, and its long tail tapered to an impossibly delicate point. These tiny creatures have more mass, in the aggregate, than any other Maine vertebrate population. The wisp of an animal sitting in front of me just didn’t seem to fit that bill, and it took a while for me to get my head around their sheer abundance.
An adult red-backed salamander found among the leaf litter in a Nova Scotia forest! Photo by Ana Ruesink.
I’ve done a fair bit more salamander hunting since then, drawn by the thrill of turning a log and peering into an animal’s existence for just a moment. And even in these summer months, when more of them burrow belowground for cooler temperatures and access to greater moisture, I’ve found a surprising number. While that first salamander lay still, practically posing for my phone camera, the next one scuttled determinedly further and further into the leaf litter as I tried to get a better look at it. The next, a bigger adult who I tried to scoop up for a demonstration during an educational program, jumped and flipped its tail and sprang around in the soil as I tried to collect it. They are wily and full of personality, charming little animals. Even my family caught the bug, collecting red-backs on a recent trip to Nova Scotia after hearing about my work this summer.
But who knew these creatures were around us in such great numbers? Out in the forest, it’s easy to hear the bright teacher teacher teacher! of an ovenbird or spot a frog in a pond or even glimpse a deer through the trees. But there’s a world of small wonders hidden away in the spots we tend to ignore. We look out, we look around, we even look up, but so often we forget to look down.
KELT’s new community science program will be a way to pay a little more attention to the captivating critters snuggled away on and below the forest floor. By the end of this week - if all goes according to plan - KELT will have 5 salamander plots set up in Bowdoinham, Bath, West Bath, and Georgetown. Each plot consists of approximately 50 “coverboards,” 10x10-inch hemlock boards placed flat on the soil and designed to attract red-backed salamanders as sources of shelter. By fall or at least next spring, troupes of volunteers will be out flipping boards and counting the salamanders who have taken up residence underneath.
“But there’s a world of small wonders hidden away in the spots we tend to ignore. We look out, we look around, we even look up, but so often we forget to look down. ”
A red-back snuggled into the forest floor duff in Lilly Pond Community Forest.
And these red-backed salamanders are incredibly deserving of our attention! Researchers still have a lot to learn about them, particularly the role they play in an ecological context. We do know that they are an important part of forest ecosystems, and especially so because of their spectacular abundance. They likely help control insect populations, protecting the network of fungi that is crucial in connecting trees and other plants in the forest and recycling nutrients from dead organic material. They provide a plentiful and efficient source of energy for animals higher up the food chain. And there is some evidence that they could be an indicator of climate change in a given region, because of their dependence on moisture and cool temperatures. We, as humans, have a vested interest in learning what we can from and about these salamanders. The more we know, the better we can protect them, and the better we can understand and maintain high quality forest habitat in the area. And they may even help us anticipate and respond to climate change in the future ourselves.
In that spirit, KELT is joining a fantastic effort to collect data about these salamanders. Our data will contribute to a larger dataset that the Salamander Population and Adaptation Research Collaboration Network - SPARCnet - is compiling. It brings together all kinds of research, building a picture of the current state of red-back populations, how they are shifting and adapting over time, and what might contribute to population resilience. This is critical data to have if we want to continue to have thriving salamander populations in the northeast.
So, after all that, I think it’s about time for a shameless plug: if you are interested to help set up the actual plots where KELT will count these red-backed friends in the coming years, the last push to install these plots is happening this week!
We’ll be holding volunteer sessions to clear the plots and put down coverboards on:
Wednesday, Aug 10: Red Rose Preserve 2-4pm
Thursday, Aug 11: Weber Kelly Preserve, 9-11am
Friday, Aug 12: Thorne Head Preserve, 10:30-12:30; Lilly Pond Community Forest, 12:30-2:30; Green Point Preserve, 3:30-5:30
There’s a form linked below to fill out if you’d like to be involved!
And I can’t wrap up “In the Field with Emma” without giving a huge shoutout to all of you who I’ve met and interacted with over the course of the summer. I’ve been constantly impressed by the dedication, involvement, and expertise of the KELT community, from volunteers to staff. Thank you for welcoming me in and teaching me so much this summer - it’s been fantastic!