• Kolozsvary, Mary Beth
  University of Maine Graduate School
  

Many amphibians rely on wetlands for reproduction and the differential distribution of amphibian species along a gradient of wetland permanence is striking, yet not absolute. Wood frogs (Rana sylvatical and spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) are thought to rely on seasonal wetlands for greatest breeding success, but there is little documentation of their reliance on these or other habitats. In my first chapter, I studied these species in wetlands across a hydrologic gradient from seasonal wetlands of short flood duration to permanently flooded sites. My results indicate that wood frogs have greatest reproductive effort and success in seasonal wetlands of short flood duration; however, for spotted salamanders, greatest reproductive effort occurs in some permanently flooded wetlands as well as seasonal wetlands of long flood duration.