ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF LOGGING ON REPTILES AND FROGS IN THE MONTANEFORESTS OF SOUTHERN NEW-SOUTH-WALES

This study describes an assessment of the medium-term effects of selec tion logging on the reptiles and frogs in the montane forests near Que anbeyan, New South Wales. A total of 15 reptile and two frog species w as detected across 20 fixed-area plots that, were selected according t o broad forest type and logging history. Reptile species richness was not significantly different among the different habitat treatments. To tal reptile abundance was significantly higher on logged plots but was nor influenced by forest moisture type. Individual analyses for five lizard species (accounting for 84% of all data) showed that several sp ecies (Eulamprus tympanum, E. heatwolei and Pseudemoia spenceri) had s ignificantly greater abundances on the logged plots than on the unlogg ed plots, while two species (Nannoscincus maccoyi and Niveoscincus cov entryi) did not differ significantly in their abundances across treatm ents. Thus, none of these species (which included arboreal, terrestria l and fossorial species) appeared to be adversely affected by past log ging practices. Insufficient data on frogs were obtained for analysis. An additional 26 species (13 reptile and 13 frog species) were record ed during a regional survey involving 57 sites. Only two frog species were detected at more than 10 sites, illustrating the difficulty in ob taining data to determine whether logging has any impact on frog popul ations. Snakes are similarly difficult to assess: 13 snakes from six s pecies were detected in this study. It is concluded that (i) the most abundant reptile species were not adversely affected by past logging, and (ii) many species of herpetofauna were patchy in their distributio n across the study area, preventing resolution of the influence of hab itat type or disturbance. The difficulty in collecting quantitative da ta on frogs and snakes confirms the importance of surveys that target endangered frog and snake species so that protective buffer zones can be delineated. Further research is required on these groups to assess the impact of forest management practices.