Salamanders on the Move

On a hot June day, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Biologist Chad Mitcham met with ESF land stewards to release 50 lab-raised Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders in a seasonal pond on Foundation-protected lands — an important stepping stone between known populations of these highly endangered amphibians. This complements the late winter release of 1,200 larval salamanders at the Reserve, and the results of both efforts will be jointly monitored by Reserve researchers, funded in part by a generous donation from an ESF donor.

The team had originally planned to introduce the salamanders to the Foundation pond as larvae, but because of the heat, opted instead to continue raising them in controlled conditions, and release them as metamorphs, young salamanders in adult form.

Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander "metamorphs", raised at UC Santa Cruz and ready for release in ESF-protected ponds as part of recovery efforts to restore populations of the endangered amphibian.

Photo by Ken Collins/ESF

Dr. Barry Sinervo, famous herpetologist and leader in climate change studies, offered to raise the salamanders in his lab at UC Santa Cruz. Tragically, he died this spring, but his graduate student Regina Spranger was able to complete the work, and the new generation of salamanders will stand as one of Barry’s legacies. Regina also analyzed DNA samples that will be used to determine whether the salamanders return to the pond as breeding adults.

Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander on the move

Photo by Inger-Marie Laursen/ESNERR

On the evening of the release, most of the young salamanders will leave the pond, searching for moist hiding places and burrows in the nearby oak woodlands, where they will spend their adult lives. We hope to see these Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders again, in about three years, when they return to the pond to breed. Until then, our amphibian monitoring teams will be on the lookout.

For more about the life and scientific contributions of Dr. Barry Sinervo, visit https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/03/sinervo-in-memoriam.html