ABSTRACT – The use of Artificial Cover Objects (ACOs) for inventorying and monitoring of reptile diversity has become increasingly common, though few studies have investigated how occurrence and sampling success (encounters per ACO per day) varies with environmental factors when using ACOs. This study is based on data from Sandsjöbacka ecoduct and its surroundings in southwestern Sweden, where there is an ongoing monitoring program. Sixty-five plywood coverboards the first year and 15 more the next year were placed in a system of points along transects and checked 22 times (1595 shelter checks) between the year 2017 and 2018. These counts were combined with vegetation analyses and complemented with data of ambient temperature from SMHI, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. A total of 129 reptiles belonging to six species was found: grass snake (Natrix natrix), smooth snake (Coronella austriaca), sand lizard (Lacerta agilis), viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara), slowworm (Anguis fragilis) and adder (Vipera berus). There was no correlation between temperature and sampling success. DFA revealed a significant discrimination between ACOs with and without reptiles, and two of eight vegetation variables, proportion of shrubs and proportion of bare ground, were best at separating the two groups. Bare ground tended to have a negative effect on reptile occurrence, while the tendency for shrubs was the opposite. Most observations (81% of all reptiles) and encounter rates (0.065 counts per ACO per day versus 0.081 totally) were associated with slow worm (European glass lizard), and therefore the data mainly reflect activity of this species. / SAMMANFATTNING – Användandet av Artificial Cover Objects (ACOs) för att inventera och övervaka bestånd av kräldjur har blivit allt vanligare, men få studier har undersökt hur förekomst och stickprovsframgång (observationer per ACO per dag) varierar beroende av biotiska och abiotiska faktorer vid användandet av ACOs. Jag fick tillgång till data från ett pågående miljöuppföljningsprogram vid och i närområden kring Sandsjöbacka ekodukt i Västra Götalands län där ACOs användes. Sextiofem inventeringsplattor av plywood första året följt av ytterligare 15 plattor nästkommande år lades ut i ett system av punkter i linjetransekter där kontroller av kräldjursförekomst skedde systematiskt under 22 inventeringstillfällen fördelade på år 2017 och 2018 (1595 kontroller av ACO) i kombination med vegetationsanalyser. Data från programmet har kompletterats med lufttemperaturdata från SMHI. 129 individer av sex arter observerades; snok (Natrix natrix), hasselsnok (Coronella austriaca), sandödla (Lacerta agilis), skogsödla (Zootoca vivipara), kopparödla (Anguis fragilis) och huggorm (Vipera berus). Det fanns inget signifikant samband mellan lufttemperatur och stickprovsframgång. DFA visade på en signifikant diskriminering mellan ACOs med och utan kräldjur, och två av åtta vegetationsvariabler, andel buskar och ris samt andel barmark, diskriminerades mest. Barmark tenderade ha en negativ effekt på förekomst av kräldjur, medan tendensen för buskar och ris var den motsatta. Klart högst förekomst (81% av totala antalet kräldjur) och stickprovsframgång (0,065 observationer per platta per dag mot 0,081 sammantaget) stod kopparödla för, och därför speglar data först och främst aktivitet hos denna art.

The red-backed salamander (RBS; Plethodon cinereus) has a large geographic range and, though it is common throughout, abundance varies spatially. It has been studied extensively for at least a century and as a result; its distribution, habitat use, behavioral ecology, reproductive ecology, and ecological role are well understood in comparison to other cryptic wildlife. Multiple sampling methods have been developed to monitor RBS, and I discuss in detail one common method – artificial cover objects (ACOs). Spatial capture-recapture (SCR) is uniquely suited to estimate population parameters, including true density, and is paired well with spatially referenced sampling methods, such as ACOs, and animals capable of retaining unique marks, such as RBS. In the introduction of this thesis, I review RBS, ACOs, and SCR independently in detail, and go on to discuss their compatibility for monitoring terrestrial salamander populations. Detailed, and often range-wide, monitoring of ecosystems is necessary to gather the information needed to achieve broad multiple-scale conservation objectives. Indicator species are recommended tools for filling in gaps of knowledge where these range-wide data do not exist. The use of indicator species is precluded by the lack of evaluation of candidate indicators and their relationship to indicated processes. In this thesis, I discuss in detail the practicality of indicator species as wildlife management tools, and challenges in their application – primarily their practicality when direct measurement of a variable of interest is possible. I advocate for integrative indicator species applications that make use of relationships to latent variables, review two conceptual models involving latent variables, and propose a modification to these models that makes relationships between variables more explicit. Inference of among-population variation to adaptive capacity, response to large-scale threats, and the condition of ecosystems is limited in part by unstandardized methods. Ecological relationships are made difficult to characterize by gaps in data - and this is especially true of links between indicator species their and related ecosystem processes. Using a candidate indicator species, I tested the congruence of population parameter estimates from study designs that varied. In Wendell State Forest, MA, I manipulated spatial arrangements of artificial cover objects (ACO) arrays and evaluated their use for monitoring terrestrial salamanders. ACOs mimic natural habitat - and attraction of RBS to traps may induce behavioral bias in parameter estimates if not accounted for. I sought to determine if variation in ACO design can be accommodated to make comparable estimates. I found that analyzing data from ACOs using spatial capture-recapture (SCR) modeling produces consistent within-population density estimates regardless of ACO configuration.

Förlust av biologisk mångfald är den planetära gräns som överskrids mest, och medför bland de största hoten mot biosfärens integritet. Reptiler är funktionella delar i ekosystem, men habitatförlust, förändrad markanvändning och klimatförändringar orsakar globala populationsminskningar. Ekologisk övervakning möjliggör förståelse för arters tillstånd, och utveckling av bevarandeåtgärder. Denna förekomststudie syftar till att undersöka lokal reptilfauna, som inventerades med artificial cover objects (ACO) i två naturområden på Billingen, ett av de västsvenska platåbergen, i Skövde kommun 2021. Data från miljöbeskrivning och inventering samt över väderförhållanden samlades in, och samband mellan observationer och miljöfaktorer testades med statistiskt t-test för positiva skillnader mellan datagrupper. Skogsödla (Zootoca vivipara), kopparödla (Anguis fragilis), snok (Natrix natrix) och huggorm (Vipera berus),alla allmänna reptilarter i regionen, observerades i undersökningsområdet. Nio observationer gjordes under 20 regnfria dagar i juni och juli, med temperaturer över 18°C. Biotopkvaliteterna brynmiljöer och nektarresurser, solexponering och de öppna biotoperna beteshage och elledningsgata, förekom i signifikant högre utsträckning där observationer gjordes, än på platser utan observationer. Markfuktighet, mänsklig närvaro, naturvärden och områdesskydd uppvisade ingen signifikans. Resultaten överensstämmer med andra studier om reptilarternas habitat, och kan ses gälla på lokal nivå trots ett relativt litet dataunderlag. Effektiva reptilbevarande åtgärder i närområdet kan innebära upprätthållande och skapande av ytor med hög solinstrålning och strukturell komplexitet, fortsatt men inte utökat lågintensivt naturbete, samt ökad halt avträdslagsblandning och brynmiljöer i produktionsskog. Kunskapen kring reptilers ekologi, samtövervakningen av populationer, behöver utökas. Det rekommenderas vidare studier om reptiler, deras habitat och bevarande av biologisk mångfald på lokala nivåer. / Biodiversity loss is the most exceeded planetary boundary, and entails some of the largest threats against biosphere integrity. Reptiles are functional parts of ecosystems, but habitat loss and changes in land use and climate are causing global population declines. Ecological monitoring enables understanding of species’ conditions, and development of conservation measures. This occurrence study aims to investigate local reptile fauna, surveyed using artificial cover objects (ACOs), in two areas on Billingen, one of Western Sweden’s table mountains, in Skövde municipality 2021. Environmental, survey and weather data were collected, and relations between observations and environmental factors were tested with statistical t-test for positive differences between data groups. Zootoca vivipara, Anguis fragilis, Natrix natrix and Vipera berus, all regionally common reptile species, were observed in the investigated area. Nine observationswere made during 20 rain-free days in June and July, with temperatures above 18°C. Solarexposure, biotope qualities Forest edges and Nectar resources, and the open biotopes Pasture and Powerline corridor, occurred in significantly higher extent where observations were made, than on sites without observations. Soil moisture, Human presence, Natural values and Environmental protection did not exhibit any significance. The results correspond to other studies on the reptilespecies’ habitat, and may apply on a local scale despite a relatively small data amount. Effective conservation measures for local reptiles can imply maintaining and creating spaces with high solar radiation and structural complexity, continued but not extended low-intensity grazing, and increasing tree species mixture and edge zones in production forests. Knowledge on reptile ecology and population monitoring needs to increase. Further studies on reptiles and biodiversity conservation on local scales are recommended.

<p dir="ltr">To examine how forest management affects terrestrial salamanders, this dissertation: (1) examines the effects of timber harvesting strategies on salamanders; (2) examines the effects of prescribed fire for oak regeneration on salamander populations; and (3) explores the influence of artificial cover object (ACO) wood type, size and shape, and placement on salamander monitoring results. These projects were conducted at the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment (HEE) and Martell Experimental Forest in Indiana. Long-term salamander monitoring data from the HEE were used to examine the effects of clearcuts, shelterwoods, and patch cuts on salamander captures collected up to eleven years post-harvest and were analyzed with a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design. Clearcuts and patch cuts had negative effects on salamanders 4-6 years post-harvest, which coincided with a drought; however, preparatory and establishment shelterwood harvests showed no effects on salamander captures, suggesting that retaining canopy cover may protect salamanders from compound disturbances such as drought. Also at the HEE, capture-recapture techniques were used to examine salamander population estimates before and after fire. Only two of three fires affected salamander populations. In the short term, prescribed fire effects on salamanders may be weak and intermittent and microclimate may have a greater effect on populations, although the longer-term effects of fire remain unknown. At Martell Experimental Forest, salamander numbers were compared beneath ACOs of different wood types, sizes and shapes, and grid arrays of different spacings. Pine ACOs were preferred over ash, while several small ACOs yielded equal salamander numbers to one large ACO of equal total area. High ACO density may increase capture probability but reduce the area sampled by each ACO, while lower density ACO grids may cover a larger area with the same sampling effort and produce more comparable results, but with less precision; choice of ACO experimental design will therefore require careful consideration of management goals. This dissertation also suggests strategies to support salamander populations as guidelines for managers to consider in management planning.</p>