Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Maine
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Maine Project


Northeastern Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: Effects of landscape heterogeneity and environmental stressors on palustrine and lotic amphibian populations in Acadia National Park (Collaborators: M. Bank-UMaine, R.Jung (USGS-Patuxent)

March 2001 - December 2006


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Red spotted newt larvae

Worldwide amphibian declines and increased reports of amphibian malformations have prompted the United States Department of Interior (DOI) to initiate an Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI). Regional ARMI programs are planned throughout the United States. Acadia National Park (ANP) is serving as a long-term intensive amphibian monitoring index site. This proposed research includes defining relationships of stream-dwelling salamanders and cross-scale habitat composition (within-stream to watershed-scale), with the intent of using salamander population counts and trends as indicators of park stream conditions. Although mercury contamination in lotic ecosystems in the Park is well-documented and is a result of non-point atmospheric deposition, levels in streamside salamanders are unknown. This study will provide insights into mercury bioaccumulation levels in stream-side salamanders, how they contribute to mercury cycling and transfer in both lotic and terrestrial food webs, and the potential for a decline of stream-dwelling biota with increasing mercury contamination. Another aspect of this research includes a survey of four-toed salamanders, a species of concern in Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The distribution of four-toed salamander has decreased throughout its range due to wetland loss associated with land clearing and development. This species may require mature hardwood or conifer forests and fishless wetland breeding sites, making it vulnerable to habitat disturbance. Our objective is to document the distribution and habitat associations of this species within ANP, and develop predictive models of their potential occurrence in the Park based on the documented local- and landscape-scale habitat associations.

Research Publications Publication Date
Chalmers, R.J., and C.S. Loftin. 2010. Plethodon cinereus, eastern red-backed salamander, wetland habitat, Herpetological Review 41(4):468-469. | Download December 2010
Bank, M. S., C. S. Loftin, and R. E. Jung. 2005. Mercury bioacculumation in Two-lined salamanders from streams in the Northeastern United States. Ecotoxicology 14:181-191. May 2004
Presentations Presentation Date
Bank, M.S., T.A. Haines, and C.S. Loftin. April 2001. Preliminary estimates of habitat use and mercury content of two-lined salamanders in Acadia National Park, Maine Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Brewer, ME. April 2001
Bank, M.S., T.A. Haines, and C.S. Loftin. March 2001. Preliminary estimates of habitat use and mercury content of two-lined salamanders in Acadia National Park, Aquatic Research In Acadia Conference, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME. March 2001
Bank, MS, TA Haines, CS Loftin, and RE Jung. 2002. Relative density and mercury contamination of two-lined salamanders from Acadia National Park, Maine. 58th Annual Northeast Fish and Wildlife Conference, April 2002, Portland, ME. April 2002
Bank, MS, TA Haines, CS Loftin, and RE Jung. 2002. Relative density and mercury contamination of two-lined salamanders from Acadia National Park, Maine.Maine Water Conference, Augusta, ME May 2002