Effects of Habitat Disturbance on Stream Salamanders: Implications for Buffer Zones and Watershed Management

Abstract: With human populations increasing worldwide, habitat destruction and degradation are among the greatest threats facing wildlife. To minimize the impacts of development on aquatic habitats, numerous conservation measures have been implemented, including the use of riparian buffer zones along streams and rivers. We examined the effectiveness of current buffer‐zone systems for management of small watersheds in conserving stream‐dwelling salamander populations in 10 small streams ( draining <40.5 ha ) in the western Piedmont of North Carolina. We captured salamanders by means of funnel traps and systematic dipnetting and used a geographic information system to calculate the percentage of disturbed habitat within the watershed of each stream and within 10.7‐, 30.5‐, and 61.0 ‐m buffer zones around each stream, upstream from our sampling locations. Although the relative abundance of salamanders was strongly inversely proportional to the percentage of disturbed habitat in the entire watersheds ( R 2 = 0.71 for Desmognathus fuscus and 0.48 for Eurycea cirrigera ), we found little to no correlation between the relative abundance of salamanders and the percentage of disturbed habitat present within buffer zones ( R 2 = 0.06–0.27 for D. fuscus and 0.01–0.07 for E. cirrigera ). Thus, conservation efforts aimed at preserving salamander populations in headwater streams must consider land use throughout entire watersheds, rather than just preserving small riparian buffer zones.