Assessment of Potential Indicator Species for Monitoring ...

1b. Broad distribution?
Yes.
1c. Common in Fraser Basin?
Yes (Orchard 1984).
1d. Proportion of diet within the aquatic food web.
Adults feed on spiders, centipedes, and crustaceans but 95% of their diet is
insects. Tadpoles feed on bottom detritus and algae (Orchard 1984).
2a. Has the home range of the species been described?
No.
2b. Habitat selection is well documented?
This species is primarily terrestrial and only resorts to water for a short period in
the spring to breed (Orchard 1984). Found in fields, forests or meadows. They will
roam quite far from standing water but prefer damp conditions. They do not occur in
urban areas but they do well in rural farming districts (Green and Campbell 1984).
2c. Breeding biology is well understood?
In spring they congregate at small ponds or pools to breed. Prefer shallow water
with a sandy bottom. They can use temporary pools beside rivers or lakes because
the tadpoles transform within a season (Orchard 1984). Eggs are laid in long
strings entwined among submerged vegetation. There are two strings of eggs laid
per female. A single female can produce more than 12,000 eggs (Orchard pers.
comm. 1994). Tadpoles develop rapidly and transform into 10 mm toadlets in about
six to eight weeks. In mid-summer tadpoles and toadlets aggregate in large
numbers around the banks of the breeding ponds (Green and Campbell 1984).
2d. Migration behaviour is well documented?
Not studied in B.C.
2e. Information on historic abundance?
No.
3a. Can nests or animal be easily located?
Should be possible to locate breeding sites (Orchard pers. comm. 1994).
3b. Can samples be easily collected?
Collecting eggs may be site dependent, eggs may be carried along by the currents
as they are laid or they may settle near the bottom of ponds. The eggs themselves
are small and black (Orchard pers. comm. 1994).
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