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Endangered Species Coalition 2015 Top 10 Report Nominating Form General Information 1 2 3 Organization & Web address Contact name for species info Address 4 5 6 Email & phone Communications staff contact name Email & phone Nominating Organizations: Please use this Column to Provide the Requested Information SAVE THE FROGS! www.savethefrogs.com Michael Starkey SAVE THE FROGS! PO Box 78758 Los Angeles, CA 90016 [email protected], 415-878-6525 Michael Starkey [email protected], 415-878-6525 General Species Information 7 8 9 Common name, genus, and species Geographic range Conservation status 10 Remaining population size California Tiger Salamander, Ambystoma californiense This species has a discontinuous distribution in west-central California, USA. The California Tiger Salamander is listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable because of a population decline from invasive species, habitat destruction and degradation. It listed by the State of California as Endangered. Total adult population size is unknown, but certainly exceeds 10,000. The population is decreasing and the species has been eliminated from 55-58% of historic breeding sites. Report Questions 11 12 13 Do you have high-resolution photos that can be used in the report? Will you want printed reports? If so, how many? If your species is selected, will you use the report as a tool to organize around the species and/or publicize its plight? Yes Yes. Five or as many as you can spare. We will distribute at events. Yes Public Engagement Questions (Please explain why the species is interesting, why it matters, why decision-makers + the public should care.)0 14 Interesting facts about the species The California Tiger Salamander is endemic to the State of California. After Please cite any substantiating scientific studies 15 metamorphosis, this species spends most of its life underground. Generally they will only venture to the surface during the winter rainy season in order to breed. IUCN webpage on California Tiger Salamanders: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/1098/0 Additional background information to complete the species profile in the report 16 What are the most important messages that should be communicated about this species' decline? Please be sure to indicate your organization’s lead message that you would like to be included in the report. 17 Is your NGO working to save the species? If yes, how? (Optional) 18 How can individuals help? Please be as specific as possible. Is there anything else that governments or others could/should/are doing to save the species? 19 California Herps webpage on California Tiger Salamanders http://www.californiaherps.com/salamanders/pages/a.californiense.html California Tiger Salamanders are threatened by urban expansion. Governmentmandated mitigation programs that allow for the destruction of salamander habitat in exchange for other habitat being restored are not sustainable in the long-term. Thus housing developments and shopping centers should not be sited in locations that impact California Tiger Salamanders. Drivers should also slow down driving on wet nights so as to not hit migrating salamanders. SAVE THE FROGS! supporters sent hundreds of messages to the CA Fish & Game Commission in 2010 and helped get the species listed under the California Endangered Species Act. As California Tiger Salamanders are run over by cars, one of the best ways to save the salamanders is by slowing down when driving on wet nights. Purchasing land and creating salamander reserves to permanently protect habitat would be an excellent way to both educate citizens about the value of California Tiger Salamanders and to ensure they have breeding habitat for centuries to come. Governments need to stop allowing the importation of non-native species, such as American Bullfrogs, which prey on salamanders and spread infectious diseases. Criteria-specific Questions – Please feel free to answer N/A or “see above/below” as appropriate. Please cite any substantiating scientific studies. 20 Describe the specific threat(s) to the species. 21 Why is it in need of greater connectivity? The California Tiger Salamander is threatened with extinction due to the widespread destruction of its habitat; high rates of road mortality; and hybridization with invasive species. The CTS is a migrating species, so it needs connectivity between seasonal wetlands where it reproduces and the grasslands and oak woodlands where it lives in burrows as juveniles and adults. See: http://hcp.stanford.edu/salamander.html. Please cite any substantiating scientific studies However, California has already lost 90% of its vernal pools. See: http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/vernal.cfm. Furthermore, the CTS has the second longest migration distance reported for any salamander and the longest among ambystomatids. See: http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/five_year_review/doc4466.pdf Much of California is now a patchwork of wildlife habitat islands disconnected from each other by a multitude of unsuitable habitat: monocultures, housing developments, roads and shopping centers. Salamanders face many threats as they migrate through unsuitable terrain, i.e. getting run over by cars. In other parts of the country, minicorridors have been established for migrating salamanders. See: http://www.boston.com/cars/news-and-reviews/2015/03/25/there-are-teeny-tinyunderpasses-for-salamanders-massachusetts/x0fF5kKOz61x05yozmZXAN/story.html CTS populations are becoming more isolated due to habitat destruction. Hence, the species has much less resiliency. They could be much more easily wiped out with a severe threat in the form of disease or weather. See this map for a comparison of historic range and current range: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/maps/highlighted_maps/California_tig er_salamander_pesticides.html 22 Is its geographic range shifting? According to FWS, "It is also possible that protecting large blocks of vernal pool habitat, may help moderate the impacts of widespread [climate and environmental] changes by providing refugia and corridors to new habitat." See page I25: http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/recovery-planning/VernalPool/Documents/VP%20Introduction.pdf At this point, its geographic range is shrinking rather than shifting. With the disappearance of vernal pools, the species has begun to breed more often in livestock stock ponds. Though "vernal pool wetlands likely provide higher quality breeding habitat for California tiger salamanders because they are less likely to contain species that predate on salamander larvae.” Please cite any substantiating scientific studies See: http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/five_year_review/doc4466.pdf 23 24 25 26 Is there concern around the cyclical/seasonal life of the species and its interactions within ecosystems? Does it have isolated populations? Is it at risk of low genetic diversity? How urgent is the need for greater connectivity in order to conserve this species? Does it face a current, imminent, or future threat? Yes. In order to successfully reproduce, the CTS needs seasonal wetlands to hold water through May or June. See: http://hcp.stanford.edu/salamander.html Due to the California drought, which has been greatly exacerbated by climate change, these seasonal wetlands are no longer maintaining water that late into the season. And during the worst years, they are completely dry. While other vernal pool species can survive these periods of drought, for the CTS, it can mean a year of lost breeding opportunity for particular populations. See: http://www.csus.edu/envs/Documents/Theses/Spring%202014/798.California%2 0Tiger%20Salamander.pdf and Also: http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/ucdnrs/research_jepson_cts.html. Yes Yes One of the most challenging aspects of protecting this species is the fact that it primarily occurs on private lands. Therefore, creative and swift action must be taken in order to create results that will protect the species long-term. In fact, only 5% of the known population occurs on government-owned land. See: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/1098/0 Overall, the CTS is suffering a population decline in the last 24 years estimated to be more than 30%. See: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/1098/0 And its isolated populations are disappearing. For instance: "It is believed that the salamander population on the Stanford University campus represents the only population remaining on the San Francisco Peninsula. At least two other populations of tiger salamanders once existed in the Stanford area, most notably one centered in the wetlands formerly located in Portola Valley, near the intersection of Indian Crossing and Alpine roads. Recent attempts to locate salamanders in these areas indicate that it is likely that these populations are no longer in existence.” Please cite any substantiating scientific studies See: http://hcp.stanford.edu/salamander.html 27 Furthermore, the CTS is an infrequent breeder. It is believed that females must be at least 2 years old before they are sexually mature. A female may typically produce only 12 metamorphic offspring in her lifetime. See: http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/five_year_review/doc4466.pdf Healthy groundwater resources are considered important for salamanders broadly. However California has been perhaps the worst state when it comes to protecting groundwater resources. It has only very recently moved toward placing limits on extraction of groundwater—the last state in the West to do so. Yet this issue is so politically fraught, that the new law will not bring California’s groundwater resources into a sustainable state until the 2040s! See: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/science/beneath-california-cropsgroundwater-crisis-grows.html?_r=0 Indicate if there is an associated political threat. For instance, is this species being actively attacked by an industry group or member of Congress? Judge’s Score for Severity and Extent of Threat: 3 28 Detail information on any social or economic benefits the species provides—e.g., its value for recreation or as a subject of scientific research. (Optional) 29 Detail the ecological importance of the species (e.g., is it a keystone species?). 30 Describe how the species could be considered an "ambassador" or “flagship” species to enlist public support for conservation. The CTS is a unique salamander, making it interesting for scientific study. They are considerably large for today’s amphibians—reaching up to 8.5 inches long. "Most related salamanders seem to move at most a few hundred meters from the breeding site. However, at Jepson [Prairie Reserve], we [Department of Evolution and Ecology, UC Davis] have found that many animals move 1,000 meters (2/3 of a mile) out into the terrestrial habitat." See: http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/ucdnrs/research_jepson_cts.html The California tiger salamander is an important ecological component of the California grassland community that has declined over its entire range, making it one of the most threatened amphibians in the Central Valley grassland ecosystem. See: http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/ucdnrs/research_jepson_cts.html 0 This is a beautiful species with unique coloration and often a “smile” on its face. Kids love these animals and they definitely make an excellent flagship species. The CTS is also a good potential ambassador species for California’s vernal pool species. A number of federally and state-listed species live in these seasonal wetlands, Please cite any substantiating scientific studies 90% of which have disappeared. See: http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/ES/Recovery-Planning/VernalPool/Documents/VP%20Biology%20of%20Covered%20Species.pdf and also: http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/recovery-planning/VernalPool/Documents/VP%20Introduction.pdf. (Note the California tiger salamander will receive its own plan, yet it is discussed in this FWS document as co-existing with other T&E species.) Judge’s Score for Importance of Species Judge’s Final Score Please submit to [email protected], and thank you for participating in the 2015 Top 10 Report. Please cite any substantiating scientific studies