Tracy KarplusViews:
The Orianne Society is beginning an exciting new chapter in the Appalachian Highlands. We are reinvigorating our research and conservation work in this globally significant region, with a strategic focus to conserve salamander biodiversity and rare species such as Eastern Hellbenders. This summer, intern Brendan Loring joined our efforts to better understand salamander diversity and habitat health across the southern Appalachians. His experience highlights both the rich biodiversity of these mountains and the important steps we are taking to conserve it for the future.
By Brendan Loring
All my life I’ve loved herps. I grew up in Rabun County, Georgia and spent many of my early days outdoors fishing for salamanders, looking for snakes, reading about turtles, exploring rivers, and mapping out the forest. By the time I left Georgia to begin an undergraduate degree in biology, I was already familiar with the experience of catching snakes and filling up a bucket with salamanders.
This past summer, I worked an internship with The Orianne Society, focusing on southeastern salamander conservation at the historic home of the famous Georgia naturalist Charlie Wharton. I worked with a team of two other interns to conduct salamander surveys throughout the Charlie Wharton Center for Conservation, a large forested conservation area on the border of the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia and the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina.
The southern Appalachians are known as one of the most biodiverse regions for salamanders on earth. The Wharton Center property features a wide array of habitat types, including high rock outcrops, low-lying valleys, and dense forests with mountain laurel, rhododendron, and hemlock trees; as well as a large meadow and several ponds supporting many species of amphibians, fish, mammals, and reptiles. Leading a small team of two interns, Ruby Karplus and Marshall Downs, I helped conduct salamander surveys that gave us a thorough understanding of the property. Most weeks we spent several hours a day hiking and searching the creeks, seeps, and rivers, mapping habitats and recording salamander coordinates.
We found 14 species of salamander on the property, each using different types of habitat. We learned that species such as Ocoee, Red-legged, Seepage, Red, and Chattahoochee Slimy Salamanders primarily dwell in terrestrial locations in the woods and can do well far from flowing water. In contrast, Seal, Blackbelly, Dwarf Blackbelly, and Shovel-nosed Salamanders tend to be found in wet or fully aquatic habitats.
Alongside surveys, our team spent time treating hemlock trees on the Wharton Center property with a special chemical to combat the harmful Woolly Adelgid, an invasive insect that has greatly reduced our native hemlock population. We also sampled environmental DNA (eDNA) from rivers and creeks in southwestern North Carolina to determine the presence or absence of Hellbenders—a giant, rare, and endangered salamander that can grow over two feet long. Hellbenders depend on habitats with good water quality and low sedimentation, making their presence a strong indicator of habitat health and suitability for other species.
In the process of eDNA sampling, we gathered six water samples by filling two bottles from the center, left, and right sides of specific creek locations. We filtered sediment from our water samples using a special pump, which left us with small, discolored paper filters. These were carefully folded, packaged in small vials, and preserved in a freezer until ready to be sent to a lab for testing for Hellbender DNA. Our goal was to determine the effects of Hurricane Helene on Hellbender populations in historically tested sites.
Towards the end of the summer, we also conducted snorkel surveys for Hellbenders in historically occupied locations and were able to see the species in the wild. The summer’s work was unexpected, exciting, and educational. I’m grateful to The Orianne Society for the opportunity to work while learning about these incredible species in the place where I grew up and still hold dear.
