The trophic role of a forest salamander: impacts on invertebrates, leaf litter retention, and the humification process

By Michael L. Best, H. Welsh. 2014

107 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Woodland (Plethodontid) salamanders are the most abundant vertebrates in North American forests, functioning as predators on invertebrates and prey for higher trophic levels. We investigated the role of Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii) in regulating invertebrate numbers and leaf litter retention in a northern California forest. Our objective was to examine how salamander predation on invertebrates affects leaf litter retention and the amount available for soil-building and carbon capture at the litter-soil interface. We used field enclosures to quantify the effects of Ensatina on invertebrates and litter retention over two wet seasons, using moisture as a covariate. In the first year Ensatina reduced Coleoptera (beetles) and Diptera (flies) larvae >2 mm, adult Coleoptera, Collembola (springtails), and Formicidae (ants), and increased Oribatid mites, larvae <2 mm (Diptera and Coleoptera), Diplopoda (millipedes), and Aranaea (spiders) <2 mm by reducing their competitors and predators. A single Ensatina in ...

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3a667cd5b6ff67ef728e2375ffecdbe62cc65001

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecological Modeling

1. Richard J. Ladle
2. R. D. Semlitsch
3. Frank R. Thompson
4. Samuel A. Cushman
5. P. Demaynadier
6. R. Baldwin
7. R. Rannap
8. Rick A. Relyea

In Global and Planetary Change

1. Ca Ruiz-Agudelo
2. A. M. Cortes-Gómez
3. Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar
4. R. D. Semlitsch
5. Samuel A. Cushman
6. P. Demaynadier
7. R. Baldwin
8. R. Rannap

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. Richard J. Ladle
2. R. D. Semlitsch
3. Frank R. Thompson
4. Miguel B. Araújo
5. P. Demaynadier
6. R. Baldwin
7. Samuel A. Cushman
8. L. Fahrig

Citations in the corpus

• Abundance, biomass production, nutrient content, and the possible role of terrestrial salamanders in Missouri Ozark forest ecosystems (2014, background): “…this could also extend the estimates of C retention in forest ecosystems from 261 to 476 kg·ha−1 reported by Wyman (1998) or 200 kg·ha−1 reported by Best and Welsh (2014) to an estimate anywhere from 2 to 4 times greater C retention based on the range of densities that we report for Sinkin…”
• Ecological functions of neotropical amphibians and reptiles: a review (2015, background): “These processes, in the case of arthropods eaters, can reduce the number of adult individuals or larvae (Schmitz & Sokol-Hessner 2002, Maerz et al. 2005, Schmitz 2008, Homyack et al. 2010, Mooney et al. 2010, Best & Welsh 2014).”