Title of Your Research

Two-year Emergence Patterns and Distribution of Overwintering Wood Frogs

(Lithobates (Rana) sylvatica)

The Authors

Thomas Johnson, Alex Melchiore, and William J. Cromartie

What Program in NAMS

ENVL

Abstract

The wood frog (Lithobates sylvatica) utilizes wetland and upland forest habitats for portions of its
lifecycle. Wetlands are protected from development by specific buffers, but upland forest is
treated as inherently developable. This report covers the second year of a study to sample wood
frogs moving towards a breeding pond at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey to determine
whether a reduced 175 ft. or the standard 300 ft. wetland buffer zone protects the majority of the
wood frogs winter habitat. Three concentric rows of drift fence and pitfall traps were constructed
February, 2014. The first row was near the edge of the breeding pond, the second row was 175 ft.
away and the third row was 300 ft. away. In 2014, forty-four percent of total captures occurred at
the outer two fences, showing that a significant portion of the population spent the winter farther
than 175 ft. away from the breeding pond. In 2015, the first 4 males were captured March 9 and
on March 10, 309 males and 55 females were recorded. The last male was caught March 26. Over
the entire period of movement to the ponds the totals by fence were Inner 159 males, 35 females;
Middle 161, 56; Outer 92, 23. Sixty-three percent were caught in the outer two fences. Thus, the
findings of 2014 are repeated and strengthened.