The Impact Of Two Salamander Species On Detrital Communities And Forest Ecosystem Function

Salamander populations are declining in many geographical areas and salamander extinctions are increasingly common. Because terrestrial salamanders reputedly impact forest floor ecosystem processes through predation on the detrital food web, either population decline or species loss of salamanders may affect those processes. The purpose of this study was to quantify top-down predatory impacts of two sympatric southern Appalachian salamander species (Plethodon cinerus and Plethodon montanus) on forest floor invertebrate populations and detrital decomposition rate using 1) a field experiment that manipulated salamander presence and absence and 2) a stomach diet analysis to quantify the diversity and overlap in diets of these salamanders.