Greater Yellowstone Amphibian Monitoring Program

Replay Available Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/Zj_HvLAywMp7jDASzstsx1z0i5l62CGB0dTR5HSRfJxSMztCKX_eINgMIM6qjxFYI4xoaQ17HkZvZsib.i-TwUjmaLcax35x3?canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&startTime=1700010534000&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2Fk3k2aTa4boUhiEUnv7xdUnXZmsiTIEHzDrnT0NwYY3j0w-IZLNybCS5j48xL2DM.UNvvIVxyqFJmSCph%3FstartTime%3D1700010534000

Is it a frog or a toad?  What the heck is a salamander, anyway?"  Answer - they're Amphibians - the most overlooked group of vertebrates in Grand Teton, Yellowstone and the rest of Teton County.   The area is home home to five native amphibians: the Columbia spotted frog, boreal chorus frog, western tiger salamander, western toad and plains spadefoot toad. The information gathered on these species feeds into Rocky Mountain region and national monitoring results tied to the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.  YNP considers amphibians a “vital sign” of the Park’s health. Because they are highly sensitive to ecosystem changes, amphibian population health serves as an indicator of overall park health and the decline of these species can directly reflect deteriorating conditions within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE).  “They often go overlooked in a park full [of] bears and wolves, but amphibians tell us so much about the health of an ecosystem,” Jana Cram, lead biological technician for the Greater Yellowstone Network, said in a Facebook post for YNP.

Andy Ray, Jana Cram and Ben LaFrance lead the work with the Greater Yellowstone Amphibian Monitoring Program in Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Jana, Ben and Andy will introduce you to the wetland and amphibian work that the National Park Service does across Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.  They'll cover the following topics:

• Introduction to the NPS Long-term Wetland and Amphibian Monitoring Program
• Characterize the climate impacts to wetlands, amphibians, and other wetland-dependent species
• Characterization of other wetland-dependent groups (case study on case - building caddisflies) from wetlands across both parks
• Share with you other aspects that we're learning about amphibians (case study on biofluorescence in tiger salamanders)
• A wrap up with a summary of other, related work in region

See a Buckrail story on this important project HERE