DODD: ECOLOGY OF SANDHILLS POPULATION OF GASTROPHRYNECAROLINENSIS


Table 8. Multi-year recapture data for Gastrophryne carolinensis at Breezeway Pond, Putnam
County, Florida, 1986-1990.

 Year
 Initially Total Year Recaptured
 Marked Marked 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990


 1986 847 23 20 11 2
 1987 379 42 2 0
 1988 893 34 0
 1989 640 0



 Reproduction and Size at Metamorphosis


 Breezeway Pond held water only from 7 June through 13 December 1985
(189 day hydroperiod) and from 24 February through 19 June 1987 (139 day
hydroperiod) during the reproductive season of G. carolinensis. Juvenile eastern
narrow-mouthed toads left the pond in October and November 1985 and from
April through June 1986. These animals were derived from the 1985 juvenile
cohort. Eastern narrow-mouthed toads did not reproduce successfully in 1987,
because the pond dried before metamorphosis could be completed. The other times
that the pond held water (Fig. 1) were outside the breeding season of G.
carolinensis and no reproduction occurred from 1986 through 1990.
 From September through November 1988, 146 unmarked juvenile eastern
 narrow-mouthed toads were recorded at Breezeway Pond. Of these, 105 (72%)
 were captured as they entered the pond. Because of their small size and the lack of
 water for the previous 13 months, it is unlikely that the remaining 41 animals
 originated from within the enclosed pond. I suggest instead that they probably
 trespassed the fence (Dodd 1991). The movement of this large group of juveniles
 occurred after a tropical depression in September 1988. All originated from other
 breeding sites and were not part of any reproduction at Breezeway Pond during the
 summer of 1988.
 All of the juveniles captured in the autumn of 1985 as they left Breezeway
 Pond were < 14 mm SUL. The long hydroperiod during the summer of 1985
 allowed larvae to complete metamorphosis without the threat of desiccation, and
 toadlets probably foraged in the pond basin for several weeks or months prior to