SHORT-TERM RESPONSE OF JORDAN'S SALAMANDER TO A SHELTERWOOD TIMBER HARVEST IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

The effects of shelterwood cutting on the abundance of Jordan's salamander (Plethodon jordani) in western North Carolina were examined during 1997 and 1998. Terrestrial salamander assemblages were sampled before, immediately after, and one year after timber harvest on control and treatment plots to estimate abundance. We also surveyed salamanders immediately after the harvest along transects radiating out from cut plots to determine whether cutting triggered salamander emigration from disturbed plots. Both before and after timber harvest, the site was strongly dominated by Jordan's salamander. No significant effects of initial shelterwood cutting on Jordan's salamander abundance were apparent after timber harvest. Abundance of this species decreased from pre-cutting to post-cutting sampling on both control and treatment plots, which likely reflected the drought that characterized both post-cutting sampling periods, but not pre-cutting sampling. No emigration of salamanders from the cut plots was detected after timber harvest. These findings suggest that at a stand scale, shelterwood harvests may pose less of a short-term threat to salamander populations than clearcutting, but more study is necessary to assess broad-scale tradeoffs between harvest yield and biological impacts associated with alternative timber harvest methods. [Key words: salamander, timber harvesting, North Carolina.]