Download Endangered Species Coalition 2015 Top 10 Report Nominating Form

Endangered Species Coalition 2015 Top 10 Report Nominating Form
General Information
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Organization & Web address
Contact name for species info
Address
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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
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Common name, genus, and species
Geographic range
Conservation status
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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
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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
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Interesting facts about the species
The California Tiger Salamander is endemic to the State of California. After
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies
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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
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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.
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Is your NGO working to save the species? If
yes, how? (Optional)
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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?
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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.
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Describe the specific threat(s) to the species.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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Detail the ecological importance of the
species (e.g., is it a keystone species?).
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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
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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