The Georgetown salamander, Eurycea naufragia, is a permanently neotenic salamander known only from about a dozen surface springs and caves in Williamson County, Texas. Rapid urbanization places all known populations at risk and conservation strategies are hindered by a lack of information on the ecology of the species. To better understand requirements of microhabitat and spatial distribution of E. naufragia within flows of surface springs, we conducted counts of salamanders on the surface at one locality over a 12-month period. Numbers of salamanders and percentage of cover objects occupied by salamanders varied among months, with a general trend of higher abundance in spring and summer. Few juveniles were observed, and there was no strong seasonal trend in distribution of size of salamanders. Within the flow of the spring, abundance of salamanders decreased linearly with distance from origin of the spring. Salamanders were more likely to be under rocks than under other types of cover objects and they selected larger rocks. Larger salamanders occupied larger cover objects; rocks covering multiple salamanders were larger than those covering single salamanders.
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1 June 2010
Ecology of Georgetown Salamanders (Eurycea naufragia) Within the Flow of a Spring
Benjamin A. Pierce,
James L. Christiansen,
Alexis L. Ritzer,
Taylor A. Jones
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The Southwestern Naturalist
Vol. 55 • No. 2
June 2010
Vol. 55 • No. 2
June 2010