Research Task: 8327CNG.15.0
Task Manager: Erin Muths
Population dynamics and the impacts of disease are important when trying to elucidate the causes behind amphibian population declines. Declines of boreal toads, documented in Rocky Mountain National Park, are coincident with the detection of the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). Long-term studies that track population parameters such as recruitment and survival assist in understanding the dynamics of particular populations. However, studies of habitat use by boreal toads (an endangered species in the State of Colorado) and wood frogs (a species recently delisted as threatened in the State of Colorado) in the southern Rocky Mountains are limited. Few quantitative data are available about these species' use of habitat, their habitat preferences, or limitations imposed by changes in the environment, both natural and anthropogenic. The ecological questions of movement and habitat use are of primary importance in developing management plans for amphibians and in implementing recovery plans for the boreal toad in Colorado. Rocky Mountain National Park provides an important outdoor laboratory where FORT ecologists are investigating such questions. The information these studies produce will support managers in developing recovery plans and detecting and managing disease.
For more information contact Erin Muths
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Research/research_tasks.asp
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