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Amphibians of the Gualala Basin

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Gualala River stream surveys and electrofishing samples do not document the recent occurrence of Pacific giant salamanders in the Gualala basin. Pacific giants are habitat generalists in the aquatic environment, but usually become terrestrial after one year. They are fairly resistant to mild sediment impacts (Welsh and Ollivier, 1998), while other species such as tailed frogs and southern torrent salamanders were more sensitive. It is possible that widespread, profound habitat change in stream and riparian environments in a short period of time also left the Pacific giant unable to adapt, similar to the coho and Sacramento sucker.

Pacific giants were also shown to be very resistant to riparian change in Mattole basin studies. Data from the Mattole Basin represent the best information available on known relationships of sensitive amphibians, riparian habitat change and changes in temperature regimes related to land use in northwestern California.

References

Welsh, H.H. and L.M. Ollivier. 1998. Stream amphibians as indicators of ecosystem stress: a case study from California's redwoods. Ecological Applications 8(4):1118-1132. http://www.rsl.psw.fs.fed.us/projects/wild/welsh/welsh1.pdf