| To assist Department of Defense natural resource managers in complying with Federal laws, I quantified diversity of amphibians, birds, and small mammals from 1998--2000 on Naval Air Station Meridian, in east-central Mississippi. I observed 96 species of birds utilizing mature forests, including 23 priority species. Avian richness was 70, 69, 66, and 61 for managed mature pine, managed mature pine-hardwood mix, natural riparian hardwoods, and beaver wetlands, respectively. Spring bird richness and total abundance in beaver wetlands increased 3-fold and 4-fold, respectively, from 1998 to 1999, whereas other habitat types were generally similar. Winter richness was generally greater in riparian hardwoods and beaver wetlands, and winter total abundance was consistently greatest in beaver wetlands. Small mammal diversity was low, and white-footed mice appeared to dominate the small mammal community. I detected 25 species of amphibians using time-constrained area searches, anuran call counts, and by encircling 3 breeding pools with drift fences and pitfall traps. Ten amphibian species were new county records and 2 were extensions of published ranges. Richness of amphibians was greatest in riparian hardwood stands. Seventeen amphibian species (5 salamander and 12 anuran) were detected in pitfall traps around ephemeral pools. Adult ambystomatids (883 individuals) moved to and from breeding pools non-randomly. Premetamorphic survival was generally low for salamanders in pools due to pool dessication in May, though 137 marbled salamanders metamorphs emerged from pools over 1998 and 1999. Spring 2000 was catastrophic for pool-breeding amphibians due to below average rainfall. Thirteen reptile species, 7 small mammal species, and 37 bird species also utilized ephemeral wetland sites. I developed an attribute model, or aspatial query, in ArcView, to predict occurrence of ephemeral pools based on soil flood class and drainage class. I applied the best model to a vector-based shapefile with a minimum mapping unit of 0.037 ha, and predicted >81% of known ephemeral pool locations. The same model, applied to a coarse-grained shapefile with a 25 ha minimum mapping unit, predicted 56% of known pool sites. I applied the model to the extent of the surrounding county to determine potential breeding sites for pool-breeding amphibians. |
