Salamander Monitoring with Students

About a month ago I assisted in the Salamander Monitoring Project that consisted of over 300 middle school students and teachers from around the city. Salamanders are considered bioindicators, they are extremely sensitive to the environment around them. If conditions are not right, they will not persist in the area. I went with other NRGers to receive training in montioring techniques and salamander and other species identification last month. With the students we conducted a biodiversity survey in Black Rock Forest and in parks around New York City in order to compare rural and urban habitats. There was even an article written about it in the New York Times. 

In the Black Rock Forest, my student group was from City College and they were a very smart bunch with an enthusiasm for nature and for lifting rocks. :) We found five salamanders: three Red-back salamanders, one lead-back variation of a Red Back Salamander, and one Northern Slimy Salamander. 

Their enthusiasm was a little too overwhelming for one salamander who lost its tail... but the students were relieved to learn that its tail would grow back eventually. We encouraged the kids to be a little more gentle with the salamanders and lifting rocks...

Our greatest group find was the Northern Slimy Salamander. It was the only one found that day. This species has been extinct from New York City for 150 years.

The students were really fond of the millipedes, which were also my favorite. :) 

Susan found a Two-lined Salamander next to our transect in a vernal pool. 

The second site I helped out at was in Van Cordlandt Park in the Bronx and the students were from Browning, an all boys school. Sadly we did not find any salamanders and two salamanders were found the entire day. This site was very different from the Black Rock site in ecology. We found many earthworms at this site, while in Black Rock we found none. Earthworms are actually not native to New York and have been affecting the area's ecology since their introduction by Europeans. They decompose the organic matter, such as leaves, which would normally provide shelter and a moist environment for salamanders. Accelerated decomposition also increases the availability of nutrients for plant uptake; however, many invasive plant species have the advantage because they are adapted to environments that contain worms. New York used to have native earthworm species but during the last ice age, the worms were wiped out. Native worms have slowly been moving up the East Coast, but the dissemination of European worms by humans has spead worms throughout the Northeast at a much faster rate. Most people think that worms are good for the soil, but not in the Northeast, except for your garden.