Herpetofaunal communities of riparian areas in two selected sites of southwest Missouri.

Diversity of the herpetofaunal community was assessed at two Missouri Army National Guard training sites-Camp Crowder in Newton County and Camp Clark in Vernon County. Eleven ponds, three lakes and five streams were sampled, including their riparian areas. An emphasis was placed on determining the presence of endangered and/or threatened species. A variety of trapping methods were used in order to maximize the number of species captured. Methods included drift fences with pitfall traps, artificial covers, hand capturing, scan searching, seining, frog calls, electroshock fishing, dip nets and hoop nets. Species, date, time of day, climate, dominant vegetation, CPS coordinates and the trapping method were recorded for each individual found. Preliminary identifications show 22 species at Camp Crowder, and 21 species at Camp Clark, with 27 total species in the two sampling areas, No endangered or threatened species were found at either sampling area. Aerial photos, land cover types, and GPS coordinates will be used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to visually represent the herpetofaunal community at Camp Clark and Camp Crowder.

* Bilbrey (1), L., S. Cairns (1) and T. Schulte (2). (1) Department of Biology, Central Missouri State University and (2) Missouri Army National Guard.