Acid Precipitation and Embryonic Mortality of Spotted Salamanders, <i>Ambystoma maculatum</i>

Abstract

Spotted salamanders breed in temporary pools formed in early spring by melted snow and rain. Many of these pools reflect the low pH of precipitation in the northeastern United States. Egg mortality is low (&lt; 1 percent) in pools near neutrality, but high (&gt; 60 percent) in pools more acid than pH 6. Developmental anomalies and the embryonic stage at which death occurs are the same in field situations as at corresponding pH's in laboratory experiments.