Herpetofauna

This is an appendix of wetland survey sites and species sampled for Legacy Project 10-426: DoD Amphibian Disease Survey From the Mountains to the Prairies.

The United States Marine Corps occupies more than two million acres within the United States. To date, no comprehensive inventory of the amphibian and reptile (herpetofauna) diversity has been conducted on Marine Corps lands. This study analyzed data from 17 Marine Corps installations within seven states of the continental United States. The area of Marine Corps land covered in this analysis was approximately 2.2 million acres. The Marine Corps installations evaluated in this report support a total of 234 species (177 confirmed species and 57 potential species). The data presented in this report and the resulting herpetofauna species lists for the Marine Corps sites evaluated are provided to identify data gaps and quantify herpetofauna diversity on these lands.

These minutes detail the DoD Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Implementation Workshop, one of the preliminary steps to implementing the DoD PARC Strategic Plan. Topics covered: Updates from the initial workshop in 2011 (Nashville TN) and Path Forward, DoD PARC Project Update and Accomplishments, Discussion of Future Projects and Implementation, Priorities and Action Items.

This page gives important information and contacts for the use of the database. Please take a moment to read this before accessing the database.

These meeting minutes from DoD/PARC workshops in Crystal City VA (April) and Tucson AZ (June) outline the elements and considerations in the subsequent development of the DoD/PARC Strategic Plan.

Given the possibility of future ESA listing and the challenges that such a decision would impose upon the Department of Defense (DoD), it is prudent to understand the distribution of desert tortoises on military ranges within the Sonoran Desert so that appropriate management decisions can be made to reduce conflicts while maintaining the military readiness mission. The primary objective of this study was to develop a landscape-level predictive habitat model for desert tortoises inhabiting the Yuma Proving Ground and Barry M. Goldwater Range in southwestern Arizona. The secondary objective of this study was to characterize the phylogenetic grouping of desert tortoises inhabiting these DoD managed lands. This report contains methods, models, results and a set of detailed maps.

During the third year of this project, the main objectives were to increase the species recordings, improve the reliability of the biodiversity monitoring stations (hardware), improve the species identification component of the project website (software), and provide training to a number of installations. This report details how this project met these objectives for the year.

Amphibians play an essential role in the ecosystems of Department of Defense (DoD) lands. The fungal disease chytridiomycosis, caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a major cause of many amphibian population declines and extinctions worldwide. Limited amphibian disease surveys for Bd have occurred on DoD lands to date. The objectives of this investigation were to answer the following questions: 1) Does Bd occur in amphibian populations in the relatively undisturbed environments of military installations? 2) Is there a spatial pattern to the presence of Bd? 3) Is there a temporal pattern to the presence of Bd? and 4) Do our results shed light on whether Bd is acting as an epidemic or endemic infection across North America? This study represents the most geographically extensive survey, to our knowledge, for Bd infection conducted to date.

Provides identification information on larval and adult life history stages of most commonly seen amphibians on these installations in NC. Also includes methodologies for NRMs to employ to gather data on amphibian species.

This document's goal is to focus the effects analysis of proposed Federal activities on critical elements, reduce uncertainty in determining effects, and improve and facilitate section 7 consultations that may be required under the Endangered Species Act. The CMED should be used as a guide in assessing potential effects of a proposed action to the species, but consideration must be given to site-specific information in making the final determination of effects. The CMED provides considerations in determining if the species may be in the action area of the proposed activity and, if so, possible ways in which Federal activities may affect various aspects of the species and its habitat.

This report summarizes preliminary findings from year one of field studies on the ecology of the Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene c. carolina) on the Fort Custer Training Center (FCTC) in south central Michigan. This study was initiated to investigate the impacts of prescribed burning on resident herpetofaunal populations by examining patterns of movement and habitat use of the Eastern Box Turtle using radiotelemetry. This report provides a discussion of data collected to date, as well as management recommendations intended to promote the conservation of the Eastern Box Turtle, as well as other herpetofaunal species found on the FCTC, including those that are listed as threatened and endangered such as the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus c. catenatus), Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata), and Blandings Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii).

This proposal involved installing predator-resistant portable enclosures on base at key locations where desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) populations had severely declined. These enclosures would be used to protect small-sized tortoises until they become large enough to exclude them from many of their natural predators.

This document provides identification information on larval and adult life history stages of the most common amphibians on USAF Dare County Bombing Range, USMC Cherry Point Air Station and the USMC Camp Lejeune during the year 2000 study period.

This report summarizes DoD’s Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) accomplishments for 2012. The report also lists anticipated tasks to complete in the following year.

This poster lists venomous snake species found on Department of the Navy Shore Installations.

This spreadsheet provides a list of herpetofauna species that can potentially be found on Navy installations.

This file provides an outline for the DoD's Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) implementation workshop at the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association conference, March 12, 2012.

Accurate information on the distribution of at-risk species is required for informed and cost-effective management actions and to prevent restrictions on military access and training. This project developed a novel and efficient method for detecting two native at-risk aquatic species (Arizona treefrog, Hyla wrightorum; northern Mexican gartersnake, Thamnophis eques megalops) in and around Fort Huachuca, Arizona, using environmental DNA collected from water samples.

Given the possibility of future ESA listing and the challenges that such a decision would impose upon the Department of Defense (DoD), it is prudent to understand the distribution of desert tortoises on military ranges within the Sonoran Desert so that appropriate management decisions can be made to reduce conflicts while maintaining the military readiness mission. This Technical Note details a project that developed a landscape-level predictive habitat model for desert tortoises inhabiting the Yuma Proving Ground and Barry M. Goldwater Range in southwestern Arizona and characterized the phylogenetic grouping of desert tortoises inhabiting these DoD managed lands.

This survey updated, compiled, and analyzed herpetofauna species lists for Air Force installations in the continental United States with significant natural resources. The focus of this project was those installations that have a current INRMP. Once completed, the updated species lists can be used by installation biologists to identify data gaps in the herpetofauna biodiversity of a particular site or as a tool to plan for baseline or species-specific surveys. They can also be used by Air Force leadership to investigate the total herpetofauna biodiversity on their lands and also as a tool to identify which installations have ESA or protected species—particularly when investigating the presence or absence of herpetofauna species as they are proposed or petitioned for listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, this information will facilitate data sharing between Air Force installations, regions, and state and federal partners and help foster effective, cooperative conservation initiatives and partnerships.