If you wanted to create somewhere for herpetologists to flock in their hundreds, I could think of no better place than the Appalachian Mountains. The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States, close by to where we all were for the GARD 2022 conference, which are a subrange of the aforementioned Appalachians. The Great Smoky Mountains are known for their incredibly high diversity of salamander species, with over 30 species documented in the region. There are several factors that contribute to the abundance and diversity of salamanders in this area, such as the habitat diversity, moisture, and temperature, and geological history. All of these have contributed to the development of various microhabitats, which in turn support different species of salamanders. TL:DR, the Great Smoky Mountains are perfect for a wide range of salamanders, and it was my goal to see as many as possible.

One of the many field trips as part of GARD 2022 was to visit the Great Smokey Mountains, which I jumped on immediately. We were taken out by Professor Matt Gray, and his student Davis Carter – both of whom are well versed in the world of salamanders. In order to initiate those of us unfamiliar with American species, including some Australians who had never seen a salamander before! Our target was to visit three transects in the pouring rain to capture as many salamanders as possible, bag them up, place a flag next to the rock they were flipped from, take them back to the base camp, and return them to where they were captured afterwards. Back at base, the species were identified (we got better as time passed), with the help of Associate Professor Kevin Hamed. There were a few sneaky salamanders around mimicking a species that secretes a sticky substance to avoid predation – and with such high diversity, there were others that all looked the same to the untrained eye. Due to the risk of various pathogenic fungi to the salamanders, they were also swabbed for later analysis in the lab, before being released.

It may seem weird placing salamanders in plastic zip-lock bags, but this study has been ongoing for the past 15 years or so years, led by Professor Matt Gray. Thankfully, the populations of salamanders have remained stable and fairly disease-free, despite the large number of hikers and families that visit the area, which may inadvertently introduce novel pathogens to the area. Just look at the number of park benches behind everyone in the photo below! As someone who used a similar technique with my snake studies, this is the most biosecure way to handle a large number of animals, and to collect as much meaningful data as possible. Thankfully, the salamanders were handed back to the corresponding capture within a few minutes of capture, so they could be released. What I wasn’t expecting was the sheer number we’d find, and that those species we did find, jumped. I’m used to the newts here in the UK just just sit there. Not these salamanders, they had somewhere to be! This made them slightly harder to catch than anticipated, with those among us that were used to this behaviour being absolute pros.

I’d just like to take this time to thank everyone involved with GARD 2022, and the associated day trips. I may have looked like a drowned rat after a day of chasing salamanders, but on the inside my inner 6-year old was extremely happy! I made some amazing friends at the conference, that I hope to continue working with in the near future. Roll on the next one, when we get to share more awesome stories over a beer, and celebrate our achievements since the last! In the end we saw 10 species of amphibians in one afternoon, almost as many native amphibians and reptiles that are found in Great Britain!

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