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Can Pipeline Erosion Best Management Practices Cause Accidental Source Habitats for Amphibians?

Lee Shaw*, Walter Veselka, and James Anderson

Division of Forestry and Natural Resources West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 26506

Presentation Category: Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (Poster Presentation #54)

Student’s Major: Wildlife and Fisheries

Wetlands provide important ecosystem functions, which includes providing habitats for amphibians and macroinvertebrates. Amphibian and macroinvertebrate habitat can be purposely created through mitigation of wetlands and vernal pools, but incidental creation through construction of pipeline right-of-ways and other infrastructure also may occur. Water control methods and erosion best management practices (BMPs) help reduce erosion and improve water quality along pipelines, but the same BMPs can also become a breeding ground for amphibians and macroinvertebrates. We are evaluating amphibians and wetland macroinvertebrates associated with BMPs on a pipeline right-of-way in Harrison County, West Virginia. We hypothesize that the BMPs have created a superior habitat for amphibians and macroinvertebrates when compared to the water channels in other parts of the right-of-way. The aim of this experiment is to see if the created habitat that resides in the right-of-way has become a place that amphibians have turned into a sink or source habitat. We are currently conducting amphibian call count surveys and soon will collect macroinvertebrate samples. For amphibian surveys a ranking of 1 is assigned to species with nonoverlapping calls when an exact count of individuals can be made; a ranking of 2 is for species whose calls overlap and only estimations of numbers can be made; and a 3 to species that are calling in full chorus. Core samplers will be used to enumerate macroinvertebrates. Preliminary results indicate that Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) are most abundant and that Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica) also occur. Our results will help improve right-of-way management.

Funding: Energy and Water Scholars Program

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course, This undergraduate research was funded by the National Science Foundation EPSCOR project “ Improving Water Management, Treatment, and Recovery in Oil and Gas Production”.