A Comparison of Aquatic Drift Fences with Traditional
Funnel Trapping as a Quantitative Method for Sampling Amphibians
JOHN
D. WILLSON*
and
MICHAEL E. DORCAS
Department
of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina 28035, USA
e-mail (JDW): willson@srel.edu; (MED); midorcas@davidson.edu
*Current address: Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, USA
Recent
reports of amphibian declines have sparked increased efforts to inventory
and monitor amphibian populations worldwide (Keisecker et al. 2001; Pechmann
and Wilbur 1994). Standard techniques for the quantitative inventory and
monitoring of amphibian populations include systematic observations, automated
recording of calling anurans, drift fences with pitfall traps, and aquatic
funnel trapping of amphibian larvae (Heyer et al. 1994). Terrestrial drift
fence arrays with pitfall traps are an effective way to sample general
species richness of amphibians and can be especially effective at detecting
rare or cryptic species (Corn 1994; Gibbons and Semlitsch 1982). Drift
fences intercept the movements of animals and guide them into traps generally
increasing capture rates (Corn 1994). Aquatic drift fences or net leads,
have been effectively used to increase trap capture rates for fish (Hubert
1983) and turtles (Vogt 1980); however, they have seldom been used to
smaple aquatic amphibian species and life stages (but see Beuch and Egeland
2002; Enge 1997a).
SREL Reprint #2769
Willson, J. D. and M. E. Dorcas. 2004. A comparison of aquatic drift fences with traditional funnel trapping as a quantitative method for sampling amphibians. Herpetological Review 35:148-150.
