Blotched Tiger Salamander Case Study

The blotched tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium) of the Southern Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada, was used as a case study for this analysis (Figure 1). Among the driest regions in Canada, the Okanagan is at the northern periphery of the dry, shrub/steppe grassland ecosystem that extends from the Columbia Basin in the United States. Wetlands in the Okanagan are highly dynamic and often inundated only during wet years or seasonally after snowmelt. Further, wetland habitats in the Okanagan are integrated as part of a multifunctional landscape dominated by human land use. Due to limited land for urban development, there is increasing social and economic pressure to develop into wetland habitats. The loss and degradation of wetland breeding sites is repeatedly identified as the greatest factor

Lea (2008) estimates that 84% of low elevation wetlands have been lost as a result of post-settlement activities in the Okanagan Valley. Similarly, Coelho (2015) reports a 63% decline in the number of ponds in the semi-arid grasslands of the province since the early 1990’s with a concurrent 54% decrease in the surface area of remaining ponds. With climate change and increased development pressures, it is anticipated that wetland loss will continue throughout this valley. It is therefore critical to understand how the Okanagan landscape functionally connects amphibian habitat to guide land use management throughout this region.

The tiger salamander is widely distributed across North America, with populations extending