Part of a series of articles titled Amphibian Monitoring in the National Capital Region.
Previous: Manassas Amphibian Monitoring 2023
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We monitor wetlands at Monocacy National Battlefield. Field teams visit wetland pools, recording which amphibian species they observe and in which sites. Looking across all sites in a park, they generate a measure of species “occupancy,” that shows what proportion of sites are occupied by a particular species.
We want to know, “is there a change in occupancy over time?”
A few amphibian species are found outside of the wetland environments that we monitor (like terrestrial red-backed salamanders). These species may live in the park, but our monitoring is not designed to document them. While we do record incidental sightings, they are excluded from the data analysis.
In 2023, we observed five wetland species. Since amphibian monitoring began in Monocacy in 2015, we have observed a total of 11 wetland species (see Figure 1 below). One burrowing species, the eastern spadefoot toad, is also included in the occupancy analysis. Lower numbers in 2023 are the result of fewer visits to monitoring sites. Usually there are two each year. Field crews visited 28 wetland sites once in April of 2023.
Wood frogs were the most abundant amphibian detected (229 larvae), followed by pickerel frogs, American toads, and northern green frogs. Northern green frogs and wood frogs were observed at the most sites (2 of 28 wetlands).
See below for how to read this figure!
These data are preliminary or provisional and are subject to revision. They are being provided to meet the need for timely best science. The data have not received final approval by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and are provided on the condition that neither the USGS nor the U.S. Government shall be held liable for any damages resulting from the authorized or unauthorized use of the data.
Part of a series of articles titled Amphibian Monitoring in the National Capital Region.
Previous: Manassas Amphibian Monitoring 2023
Last updated: March 18, 2024