Amphibians
As a young boy growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, I fondly recall going down to our old oxbow wetland in the pasture after a warm spring rain and collecting hundreds of American toads. Just the day before there was no toads calling. The toads were trilling loudly and embraced in amplexus (the mating hug where the smaller male rides on the back of the larger female). I carried several 5-gallon buckets of toads up to the cow’s water trough by the barn until the trough was covered with toads and the wetland was silent once more. During the night it rained heavily and by morning there was not a toad left in the trough but the wetland was once again alive with the trill of toads. Unfortunately, even though the wetland remains today—it is now silent once again. Amphibians have suffered a world-wide decline due to a number of factors including water pollution, chemicals, ultraviolet radiation, and wetland loss.

Many amphibians use wetlands for reproduction. Most of the 90 species of frogs and toads in the U.S. use wetlands and a number of salamanders also use wetlands extensively. The best wetlands for most amphibians have good quality water, an even mixture of open-water and emergent vegetation, and are shallowly and seasonally flooded to prevent the establishment of fish. Wetlands that do not harbor fish often have more amphibian species than wetlands that contain fish. Many species of amphibians such as chorus frogs, spadefoot toads, wood frogs, and spotted salamanders need wetlands without fish in order for their eggs and tadpoles to live long enough to turn into juveniles capable of leaving the wetland.

Amphibians consume algae, plants, and invertebrates produced within wetlands. Wetland amphibians also eat invertebrates that occur near the wetland but are actually upland species. Some of these invertebrates are crop pest species—thus amphibians are valuable natural insect controllers.

Do you want to learn more about amphibians? Click on the following links to learn more about selected amphibian species.

See a Northern Leopard Frog.
See Spring Peepers.

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Reptiles
A number of reptiles also use wetlands. Some of the most well known reptiles include turtles, such as common snapping turtles or painted turtles, and alligators. However, a number of other species including snakes also depend on wetlands for their survival. Populations of turtles can be quite high in some deepwater wetlands. Densities of over 25 common snapping turtles per acre have been commonly reported. Turtles, like clean water with an abundance of prey species such as fish or amphibians, deep undercut banks and pools for hibernating, and for basking turtles such as painted turtles, woody debris for sunning.

Alligators depend on wetlands but they also help to deepen and change the topography within wetlands. Alligators form deep “gator holes” to create a more permanent source of water in areas where wetlands can dry out. This deep hole provides habitat for a number of fish, shellfish, turtles, and invertebrates such as grass shrimp that need longer periods of water. The material that alligators rake out with their feet and move to the side of their hole, builds up areas creating more diversity in the water levels which influences plant species composition and distribution and increases the overall plant and animal diversity.

Reptiles are indeed fascinating creatures of wetlands. Click on the following species to learn more about them.

As shown above, amphibians and reptiles depend heavily on wetlands. Many amphibians in particular depend on ephemerally flooded wetlands. To find out what you can do to help maintain and improve frog and toad populations as well as some reptiles, read the guide from the Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation on ephemeral wetlands for information on management and creation of ephemerally flooded wetlands for amphibians and reptiles. To find out what you can do for reptiles and amphibians that use more permanent wetlands read the guide from the Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation on permanent wetlands.