What+kind+of+habitat+do+red-backed+salamanders+like?


 * What kind of habitat is best for Plethodon cinereus?**
 * Plethodon cinereus live in deciduous forests. They like to live in wet leaves and under rocks, logs and in small burrows. They have to live in a moist environment to keep their skin damp because they will not breathe correctly without damp skin. Mostly found with debris on the forest floor. They are rarely found in soils with a pH of 3.7 or lower.**

Juvenile Habitat. Similar to adults. Juveniles often remain in the nest cavity with the mother for 1–3 wk after hatching before dispersing (Piersol, 1910; Burger, 1935; Test, 1955; Highton, 1959). Kin discrimination between mother and offspring may be context dependent (Gibbons et al., 2003).

 Adult Habitat. Eastern red-backed salamanders occupy deciduous, mixed conifer-deciduous, and sometimes northern conifer forests, where they inhabit leaf litter and utilize retreats under stones, within soil cavities, and in rotting logs. Eastern red-backed salamanders have a limited ability to burrow, being effective only in soft substrates such as leaf litter or loose humus, and they prefer to use or enlarge existing retreats (Heatwole, 1960). They may also forage in bogs (Hughes et al., 1999). Soil moisture, soil pH, cover object availability, and light intensity all affect salamander distribution, with soil pH being the most influential factor (Wyman, 1988a,b; Frisbie and Wyman, 1992; Sugalski and Claussen, 1997; Grover, 1998). Eastern red-backed salamanders prefer cool, moist microhabitats and avoid temperature extremes and desiccating environments (Heatwole, 1960). A large percentage of the total population resides below the soil surface and is typically under-sampled in surface counts and mark-recapture methods (Test and Bingham, 1948; Taub, 1961). Their highest abundance occurs in mature hardwood forests, with deep soils and abundant downed woody debris in various stages of decomposition (Grover, 1998). Pfingsten (1989b) considers eastern red-backed salamanders to be an indicator organism of the beech-maple forest in Ohio, where cool, moist conditions prevail. Removal of dead and dying timber is likely to severely impact populations of terrestrial salamanders by reducing the availability of cover objects (Grover, 1998).