Seining for stream salamanders: Season and site matters but not time of day.

Sampling for salamanders in streams can be challenging as different techniques can lead to biased estimates of populations. One type of stream sampling that has been underutilized for assessing salamander abundance is kick-seine sampling. Currently it is unknown if kick seining is a viable method for estimating salamander abundance and salamander body condition. Therefore, we conducted a study to investigate how stream salamander abundance and body condition changed across seasons and during the time of sampling (day versus night) using kick seining. We sampled six streams in western North Carolina every three months over a 12-month period in 2019-2020. Each stream had a 10-m stretch that was sampled during diurnal and nocturnal sessions on the same day. We found that salamander abundance significantly differed by site but not by time of day and season. Salamander body condition varied also by site and season but not time of day. Our study indicates that kick-seine sampling is a viable technique to estimate stream salamander abundance. It also suggests that kick-seining sampling yields similar abundance estimates regardless of the time of day but that seasonal variation does exist. Overall, future work should consider comparisons of kick seining to other stream salamander sampling techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]