@ Sandra:
Thanks a lot for your replies! I enjoy this kind of knowledge exchange very much, although I hope the berus lovers don't mind we discuss all these details on the forum
I don't do larval counts, because it's too much to handle already + it has been demonstrated that larval numbers are not really a good proxy for adult population size.
Me too, I have not really been out there immediately(!) after a summer thunderstorm, yet. I would assume that the effect of major activity on the 1st(!) rainy night after a dry period would be more different than that of the subsequent nights, in comparison with spring and autumn.
What's with the focus on albino larvae?
Is Hymenochirus an alien invasive in your area!?
> I would assume that the number of salamanders in summer is similar to that in spring
I don't know... In my area, two (not strict at all!) activity peaks are assumed (spring and autumn).
In my experience, the trouble with studying juveniles is that it is hard to find them in the first place (says literature, as well as my own observations), let alone find the same ones again... Getting an idea of winter survival sounds even harder & has never been done, as far as I know.
Last year was a terribly dry spring, causing most likely for a lot of the larvae to die. However, the impact on long-lived animals like this species, might be not that dramatic, imho.
Why do artificial ponds yield more juveniles? And how do you find juveniles (+ how do their numbers relate to adult numbers in %)?
> Due to the ponds being artifical we always have a high number of juveniles each autumn
> which contributes a lot to the large number of individuals that can be encountered from Sep-Nov.
You mean also juveniles by the latter number or post-metamorph animals in general?
So you don't agree that these high abundances are rather norm than exception in good natural habitat? I believe they are and that people underestimate abundance of terrestrial salamanders very often, due to their secretive habits.
> which was in early May 2009 or 2010
That would be rather late in my area, but maybe the big numbers are earlier near me (although that does not show from your posts)?