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