Forest management and amphibians: focus on the genus Salamandrina

Our aim was to investigate if and how some features of trees
affect the occurrence of salamanders, using occupancy level
(MacKenzie et al., 2002) as a proxy of tree suitability. The
Spectacled salamanders belonging to the genus Salamandrina are
two Italian endemic species, occurring in hilly and mountain
forested areas, as well as in Mediterranean maquis (Angelini et al.,
2007). Salamandrina perspicillata (Savi, 1821; Figure 1) occurs
in Northern and Central Apennines while S. terdigitata
(Bonnaterre, 1789) occurs in southern Italy (Romano et al., 2009).
The spectacled salamanders (both under the name of S. terdigitata
because their split is relatively recent: Mattoccia et al., 2005,
Nascetti et al., 2005) are included in the annex II and IV of the
Habitats Directive. Terrestrial activity of a population of
Salamandrina perspicillata was studied in the ManFor site
Pennataro and Montedimezzo (Central Italy), a mixed deciduous
forest dominated by beech, situated at about 900 m asl, to highlight
some ecological traits of this salamander and the implication
for conservation during forest management