Status Update: the Atlantic clade of the Frosted Flatwoods Salamander

If you only know one thing about the Amphibian Foundation, I hope it is that our highest priority research program focuses on the conservation of the Frosted Flatwoods Salamander, Ambystoma cingulatum. After all, our logo is a larval Flatwoods Salamander!

AF is working hard to develop a captive propagation program for the species, and currently holds the only captive colony in the world. This captive propagation colony is a small, but important part of a larger recovery program that involves many talented and dedicated partners. We are all working together on a complex problem that is the catastrophic decline of the Flatwoods Salamander.

A wild caught larval Frosted Flatwoods Salamander from Fort Stewart, Liberty County, GA USA

Flatwoods Salamanders were once common throughout the coastal plain of the southeastern US — from South Carolina southward through the coastal plain and then across Florida into the panhandle. Since 2000, however, Flatwoods Salamanders have declined by 90%, and are now considered at imminent risk of extinction. There are only 3 populations known to still be extant: two in Florida (Apalachicola National Forest and St Marks National Wildlife Refuge) and one in eastern Georgia on Fort Stewart Army Base. They have not been detected in South Carolina in many years despite extensive surveying led by John Palis, Salamander Biologist who has uncovered a lot of what we know about the species.

In 2007, Pauly et al split the Flatwoods Salamanders into 2 species: the Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander, Ambystoma bishopi and the Frosted Flatwoods Salamander, A. cingulatum. They are genetically distinct species, although I cannot tell them apart. Everything west of the Apalachicola River is now A. bishopi. The Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders were split into 2 genetic clades, but they were not divergent enough to be considered separate species. These two clades are the Atlantic clade (which geographically makes up about 3/4 of the range) and the Gulf Coast clade. The one pond at Fort Stewart with Flatwoods Salamanders is the only known breeding site in the entire Atlantic clade.

Clade map of the Frosted Flatwoods Salamander (Katie O'Donnell, USGS). The grey area represents the Atlantic clade, and the blue area denotes the Gulf Coast clade. The orange "x's" represent known breeding sites. This map shows Fort Stewart as the last known breeding site for the entire Atlantic clade

I wanted to include all of that information so that you know, by the time you reach this part of the article, how important genetically and ecologically the last remaining population at Fort Stewart is to the conservation of the species. I have been out at Fort Stewart since 2012 sampling historic sites and other wetlands that have been previously described as suitable for Flatwoods Salamanders. These amphibians require open Longleaf Pine/Wiregrass Savannas and have not adapted well to development or other types of habitat alteration (e.g. silviculture). Furthermore, Flatwoods Salamanders are dependent on natural fire cycles, which typically means summer season burns caused by lightning strikes. Historically, these fires would burn their habitat very regularly (every year to every three years) and these tough little salamanders can handle it. What they can't handle is that 97% of their habitat is gone.

Even at Fort Stewart, habitat succession had taken over their breeding habitat and every year the habitat was becoming less and less suitable for the salamanders. When fire is suppressed in their habitat, then natural succession takes over, the pines are replaced by hardwoods, and the entire landscape changes. It is very difficult to return this habitat back to the natural pine savannas, and this makes conservation of the salamander difficult as well.

The last known breeding pond for Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders at Fort Stewart. This photo was taken in 2014 and you can see the dense clusters of trees which shade out the wetland so the necessary understory of grasses cannot grow. The abundance of trees also drink up the water, which shortens the hydroperiod increasing the chance that the pond will dry before the amphibians can complete metamorphosis. Pictured here is John Jensen (GA DNR and Dirk Stevenson (Altamaha EC)

In 2015, we discovered a few A. cingulatum larvae, and you can see in the background that many trees had been targeted for removal. This thinning of the trees and opening of the canopy project was spearheaded by Fort Stewart Biologist Roy King. This isn't Roy in the picture, however. Pictured here extremely happy to have found a Frosty is John Palis.

Roy King, Fort Stewart Biologist focusing on endangered species on the base has been trying to find ways to reduce the amount of trees in the pond and allow growing season (summer) burns into the habitat. Things have been looking very bad for the Georgia animals. Last year (2018) we found zero, in 2017 we found two larvae, and in 2016, we again found zero animals in our surveys. I couldn't help but think we were too late and conservation for this clade of Frostys would be impossible.

Over the last year, however Roy and his team were able to clear out a lot of the trees, and during our surveys this week — I could barely recognize it as the same wetland. It had been opened up, and with the sun hitting the ground again, some of the vegetation had begun to return!

The same pond in 2019, after Roy and his team had cleared out much of the trees from the area (Kurt Buhlmann included for scale)

The pond was extremely full with all the seasonal rains and we began eagerly sampling through the areas we had previously found salamanders — nothing. After an hour or so ... I found one! I shouted "I got one!" but no one believed me for a second. Soon everyone was crowded around and there it was in my dipnet with a couple of Southern Leopard Frog tadpoles!

The first detected Frosted Flatwoods Salamander larvae in Georgia in 2019 and the the 4th animal detected since 2015. (Kurt Buhlmann)

Soon everyone (me, Kurt Buhlmann, Roy King, Chris Layton and Chris Coppola) were sampling in the area I detected the first one: searching for the 'honey hole'. Flatwoods Salamander larvae tend to not venture far from where they hatched, so if you find one, there is a chance you will find more.

— and we did! By the time we surveyed 50% of the pond we had detected 21 Frosted Flatwoods Salamander larvae. 20 of them were collected for inclusion in the captive propagation program and are back at the Amphibian Foundation now in the Salamander Lab. We will keep a close eye on them to insure they are growing well, and can metamorphose into healthy adults.

This is what I like to see — a burned Flatwoods Salamander sign. Clear evidence that burning is encouraged in their habitat.

Kurt and Roy standing near the 'honey hole' where we found the majority of our salamanders.

A very happy Kurt showing off his first catch of the day

Back at the hotel preparing the Flatwoods Salamander larvae for their journey from Liberty County to Fulton County.

Check back for updates on this critical project. The plan now is to rear these animals in a miniature Longleaf pine ecosystem, where we can hopefully make them feel at home enough to produce healthy offspring for release back into protected habitat! We all have our work cut out for us, but the hard work that Roy and his team at Fort Stewart have accomplished is a key feature to the species' persistence on that landscape!

This research was funded by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy (ARC). ARC is the bedrock of the herp conservation community in the US, and is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of herpetofauna and their habitats. We are incredibly grateful to ARC for their support and partnership!