Abstract |
In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began work on this series of reports entitled Methods for Evaluating Wetland Condition. The purpose of these reports is to help States and Tribes develop methods to evaluate (1) the overall ecological condition of wetlands using biological assessments and (2) nutrient enrichment of wetlands, which is one of the primary stressors damaging wetlands in many parts of the country. This information is intended to serve as a starting point for States and Tribes to eventually establish biological and nutrient water quality criteria specifically refined for wetland waterbodies. This purpose was to be accomplished by providing a series of state of the science modules concerning wetland bioassessment as well as the nutrient enrichment of wetlands. This module is intended to encourage the use of amphibian metrics in wetland bioassessment. To facilitate use of this valuable information, we describe briefly the basic ecology of amphibians and their assemblages, and the best available science on their responses to physical, chemical, and ecological stress. Monitoring protocols for the assessment of amphibian responses along a gradient of human disturbance are described at various levels of sampling effort. |