California fire and caudate survival strategies...

First, I want to express my concern for our Caudata.org members and their families who may be coping with the fire disaster that is affecting large parts of California. My thoughts and prayers are with you!

Have there been any published papers on survival strategies for caudates in disaster affected areas of the Pacific, notably southern CA fire survival for such species as Aneides lugubris and the Ensatina complex? What about survival and/or recovery from volcanic activity such as the Mt. St. Helens disaster? I suspect that the fleet of foot, such as mammals might be able to avoid fires, but can amphibians burrow deep enough, fast enough, to allow the fires to pass over them safely? Just something that came to mind...

I was curious about the same thing. I would imagine that it is possible to burrow deep enough to avoid the high temperatures as the fire passes. Would they have any chance if they made it to a stream?

Being so close to the situation and having the love for caudates that I do is making this fire particularly scary for me. I hope they all pull through.

Well, I actually go out and find salamanders on one of the mountains that is on fire right now. Last time I went up there I lifted a rock that was at the top of a rock wall (I think the purpose of the wall is to make the cliff next to the road look nicer) and found many ensatinas under this rock. I watched them scurry down into smaller holes that went further down into the wall (the wall is about 15 feet at the tallest part, and about 6 feet at its smallest), I would imagine that there are TONS of them safely tucked away in walls. And for the areas without rock walls, I think that most amphibians would find their way into a rodent hole, so they would not need to worry about digging. I bet that a lot are huddled up together in a safe spot right now. The rivers would not do them any good because the quality of the water would be bad due to the ash, and ensatinas and arboreal salamanders cant swim in water for very long, they would eventually drown. I'm sure most of the wildlife took the bad air quality as a sign to go into a state of emergency, There are birds outside my house RIGHT NOW that would normally never be in the suburbs. This isn't the first time (although this is possibly the worst time) that this moutain cought fire, life always seems to pop back up. But as for volcanic disasters, I have no clue (perhaps thats why there are no newts or salamanders in hawaii, haha).

Here is a picture that shows that rock wall I was talking about. I hope this works:



The rocks start to spread out more further down (giving enough space for a safe place)

Salamandra & Taricha 'excretions'

I found another blog that describes in basic terms, one person's assessment of how newts/salamanders might escape most of the effects of a major fire. (http://dailyapple.blogspot.com/2006/08/apple-189-salamanders.html)

I have read before of the so-called 'protective' mucus excreted by Salamandra sp suffering fire/heat stress. However, years ago (when I was young, virile and had hair), I read (in one of those 'book' thingies) that wild Taricha were observed doing the same thing during brushfires.

If anyone could link me with a reference, on-line or on paper, I would consider it a kindness.

Thanks

Wes

I'm definitely concerned about some of the sites I visit in southern San Diego county. The habitat, some of the most southern in the US for klauberi, is very very patchy and isolated. Some of the plots are (were) less than a couple of acres. I suspect though that they all survive for the most part because it was so dry already that they had to be held up pretty far under. The problem becomes the lack of surface cover and limited shade in the burned areas, thus limiting their surface activity during the winter. It gives the impression that they are in lower densities when they really may still be the same.

As far as events like St Helens, I found a long-toed by the visitor's center back in 2000. pretty amazing.

Nope, it missed my site, this time:

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1012/

The area where I find mine is on fire still (83% contained) but I think most of the klauberi will be fine.

my great uncle is a fireman, and i had to ask what he thought.

For a salamander to be unaffected by the heat of a fire, when burowing in the ground, they would have to go pretty far down. He said about four to five, maybe more feet. Also, when trees catch fire, sometimes the roots can burn down in to the ground, and smolder for days. Can a salamanders go that deep?

They most likely wouldn't hesitate going into a series of elaborite holes made by some rodents, I would think that they burrow deep. You should ask if they'd be safe going into a hole that lead under a street, because I've seen some there too.

I just found out that the fire is not near the area of the ensatinas and the fire is 85% contained! I want to go see the mountain soon.

Fire effects of terrestrial salamanders

The responses of terrestrial salamanders to wildfire are highly variable. First off, they are underground this time of year so the severity of the fires in So Calif would be lessened or minimal on salamanders. Those animals buried inside fallen trees (logs) would be killed when fuels consumed. However, salamanders are not likely to be inside logs at the end of the dry season.

Fire severity is usually reflective of the amount of fuels (e.g., a ravine full of downed wood) and sometimes the temperatures are so hot that the soil is blackened or "fused" and no vertebrate could survive the process. These are hot pockets; other areas are ligthly burned or not at all. Fire burns in a mosaic, and it is difficult to simply say fire is "good or bad" over a landscape.

We have completed some scientific studies in southern OR and no. Calif. that indicate that most salamanders survive wildfire, but their numbers may be reduced in the hot pockets or high fire severity areas. These species evolved in an environment with fire and seasonal location underground likely spares most of them. Local populations may be greatly reduced, but the species persist.

On the other hand, if the surface cover (lead litter to large logs) is lost, the surface activity of salamanders may be reduced (e.g., less time to forage). For the most part, we do not understand these processes at this time.

AnediesNorth

Here is a cool thread dealing with this subject on Taricha. I doubt this would work in anything more than a small fire!

http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42182