An assessment of a herpetofaunal community in Hamilton County, Tennessee: Baseline ecology, species richness, and relative abundance

Long-term investigations are needed to adequately assess herpetofaunal community structure and dynamics, and habitat alteration remains the most critical threat to these communities. Herein, I report on a 32-month study investigating species richness, abundance, sex ratios, and body sizes of amphibians and reptiles in a Hamilton County, Tennessee, wetland. Utilizing drift fencing in conjunction with pitfall arrays, a total of 14 reptile species and 16 amphibian species was recorded. Evenness was low among all study years due to large sample sizes of ambystomatid salamanders relative to all other species. Body sizes of Ambystoma were larger in females, and sex ratios of all Ambystoma were significantly male-biased in all study years except one female-biased sample of Ambystoma opacum (2009). This study is the first wetland community assessment for the southeastern Tennessee region and provides baseline data for future comparisons regarding changes in community structure and dynamics.