Anuran Use of Old Lake Habitat Versus New Lake Expansion

The enlargement of the Hydaway Lake presents amphibian species present in the lake new areas and habitats to explore and live in. This will be the first breeding season that the new portion of the lake will contain water, so this study is to look at how anurans utilize this habitat. Some species we expect to find in early spring, are the Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) and the American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) which are very opportunistic as well as other species such as Spring Peepers and Pickerel Frogs. We hypothesize that the old habitat will have increased vocalizations and egg masses in comparison with the new sites. We will use a sound recording device called Song Meter SM4 to monitor the duration of frog mating calls around the lake, at sites near and far from infrastructure. We will then monitor for the presence of egg sacs and number of calls. With this data we will analyze it using Shannon diversity indices. Our conclusions then are, that while some Anuran individuals will show to be opportunistic and prefer new habitats, most of them will prefer older more established habitats.