Conservation groups in Quebec are trying to save a rare, endangered salamander before it’s too late. But the first step is finding the solitary amphibian.
“It’s hours and hours of throwing rocks until we finally find one. It’s always that joy,” said Laura Molina, searching a cold stream near Saint-Ferdinand, Que., about 200 kilometres east of Montreal.
Molina is a project manager at Concerto group des bassins versants de la Zone Bécancour (GROBEC), a group that seeks to protect the Bécancour River watershed. Supported by the Quebec and federal governments, has been counting the spring salamander population in the Chaudière-Appalaches region for about two weeks.
The colorful species can reach a length of up to 23 centimeters. It is one of the largest salamanders without lungs and gills. It breathes through its skin and can live up to 10 years.
Environment and Climate Change Canada published a management plan for the spring salamander in 2013, describing it as a large torrent salamander found in the Appalachian Mountains. It is at the northern limit of its range in southeastern Quebec.
The species is also known to inhabit the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario, but has not been observed there since 1877.
It lives in small, clean, cool and well-oxygenated streams with rocky bottoms where there are no fish — and habitat requirements are a limiting factor for this species, the report says.
1 salamander at a time
Under federal and provincial law, the spring salamander is considered a vulnerable and endangered species.
They’re so rare that the province doesn’t even know how many there are in Quebec. And as Molina points out, finding one requires persistence, knowing where to look, and the perfect temperature.
“They are very sensitive to temperature. It has to be cold. If it is too hot, they do not come out and actually burrow into the ground because their skin dries out and they cannot breathe,” she said.
A study conducted about 10 years ago identified places where the salamanders live, and it is there that Molina’s group is searching.
In addition to counting this species, the group is also counting other salamanders and is on the lookout for anything that might pose a threat to the amphibian’s habitat.
The group says 94 percent of spring salamander habitat is on private land.
“It’s something special to find species that are rare,” Molina said. “And especially to know that, despite all the changes in the environment. I think that says something about the region, about how the region takes care of the streams as well.”
The reconstruction plan assumes the need for further research
The species recovery plan published in 2021 indicated that knowledge gaps still exist, in particular with regard to population status and trends, as well as the scale and significance of threats to the species and its habitats.
By 2031, Quebec plans to continue studying the species, protecting its habitat and determining what it needs to thrive. Finally, a communications strategy must be developed and implemented to ensure, among other things, the success of sound agricultural and forestry practices, the recovery plan says.
For now, Quebec’s plan assumes the spring salamander’s habitat requirements are a limiting factor for its survival, as is its late sexual maturity.
The physiological limitations resulting from cutaneous respiration reduce the species’ ability to disperse and make it particularly sensitive to habitat change, degradation and loss.
“In Quebec, agricultural and forestry runoff, which causes sediment deposition and altered water quality, is considered the most significant negative impact on the species,” the recovery plan reads.
“Other threats with moderate impacts on the population include water management and use, transport and service corridors, and deforestation.”
In the meantime, steps are already being taken to protect the salamander.