Protecting wildlife is hard. Every species has a unique set of environmental needs and is faced with a unique set of challenges and threats. These constraints mean that wildlife conservation can get very complicated, very quickly, when managers must balance the needs of many different species at once.
But before wildlife managers can even begin to think about taking steps to protect a species, they first need answers to some basic questions, including " Relatively little is known about the population of four-toed salamanders because they are very difficult to find. Even experienced people may only be able to find animals sporadically in the same few spots year after year, making it really hard to determine if the species needs conservation interventions.
Protecting wildlife is hard. Every species has a unique set of environmental needs and is faced with a unique set of challenges and threats. These constraints mean that wildlife conservation can get very complicated, very quickly, when managers must balance the needs of many different species at once.
But before wildlife managers can even begin to think about taking steps to protect a species, they first need answers to some basic questions, including "Where does the species live?"
Answering that question can be hard for species like the four-toed salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum), a small salamander that spends most of its life burrowed in leaf litter in forested areas. Relatively little is known about the population of four-toed salamanders because they are very difficult to find. Even experienced people may only be able to find animals sporadically in the same few spots year after year, making it really hard to determine if the species needs conservation interventions.
We successfully developed sample collection and molecular biology methods that are able to detect four-toed salamander eDNA and have confirmed that these animals are still present at sites where they were found historically but haven’t been detected for decades. Identifying cryptic or elusive species in their natural habitat is vital for conservation planning and habitat management. Using eDNA, finding species that are small, well-camouflaged, or live in hard-to-reach places may become less challenging. More information about our methods is available in the openly accessible publication, “Aquatic eDNA can advance monitoring of a small-bodied terrestrial salamander and amphibian pathogen”!
Kaganer, A. W., Stapleton, G. S., Bunting, E. M., & Hare, M. P. (2022). Aquatic eDNA can advance monitoring of a small-bodied terrestrial salamander and amphibian pathogen. Environmental DNA, 4, 1164–1175. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.316