Spring Is for Salamanders


Spotted salamander eggs. Photo by Adam Frederick.	Yellow spotted salamander. Photo © Bev Wigney.

To Adam Frederick, spring means tromping through the woods near his home in Frederick, Maryland. A born naturalist and an education specialist for Maryland Sea Grant Extension, Frederick is always on the lookout for interesting creatures to share with students and teachers.

Last month, he visited a favorite vernal pool in the Catoctin Mountains of the Frederick City watershed. Vernal pools are ephemeral bodies of water that appear in the spring and provide a place for salamanders to lay their eggs, a safe haven from hungry fish. Ensconced in this one, Frederick found hundreds of egg masses, ranging from 4 to 6 inches long and 2 to 3 inches in diameter.

Herpetologist Don Forester of Towson University confirmed that the eggs belong to the spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, which can grow up to 10 inches long. In over 20 years of visiting this “hot spot,” Frederick says that he’s never seen so many egg masses. The pool was also filled with 4-inch, adult newts, he noted, who were attracted to the eggs’ gelatinous coating.

Frederick says that the Appalachian Mountain region is now home to the largest diversity of salamanders in the world -- more than 70 species reside here. Though populations of amphibians worldwide are in decline, the salamander populations in this region seem relatively stable, according to researchers Evan Grant and William Fagan at the University of Maryland. But vernal pools are vulnerable to climate change. The loss of these small, seasonal wetlands concerns a number of state, local, and federal organizations across the northeastern United States.

Researchers are keeping a close eye on amphibian populations like frogs and salamanders, especially through the U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI). In the Northeast Region, ARMI encompasses thirteen states from Maine to Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.

The ARMI program helps to determine the whereabouts of amphibian populations, monitors specific representative (Apex) populations, and investigates potential causes of amphibian declines, diseases, and malformations. This ongoing monitoring effort will help researchers keep tabs on population sizes of diverse amphibian species, monitoring for changes over space and time.

For now Frederick has uncovered a bonanza of salamander eggs. He wonders if the salamanders are crowding together here because a nearby housing development has taken away other pools. It must have been something to see on that moonless night, he says, when hundreds of salamanders crawled out of their burrows and slid down to the pool to lay their eggs.

Contact: Erica Goldman, 301.405.6380