THE JEMEZ MOUNTAINS SALAMANDER grows to all of three inches long and hides under fallen logs and rocks, where moist soil allows it to breathe through its skin. For nearly a decade, Nancy Karraker, a herpetologist with a doctorate in conservation biology, has monitored this endangered species. Recent years have seen its numbers dwindle, with fewer than 10 found in each of the last two summers.
But the amphibious resident plays a crucial role in helping carbon cycle through the forest, eating tiny insects, and turning their remains into a “meat stick” big enough for birds and reptiles to notice and consume, Karraker says. Historic research charted this salamander across the landscape, sometimes abundantly so, through the 1950s and ’60s, including one report of 100 in a single log. Karraker has found 150 total in eight years of field work.
“They’re becoming increasingly difficult to find, even at places we think of as our hot spots,” she says. The decline likely reflects the cumulative stresses the landscape has seen: overgrazing, logging, and severe wildfires that left behind less forest and hotter, drier ground.
The Jemez Mountains salamander.
Photograph courtesy of NPS/Nancy Karraker.
“Changes in occurrence across the landscape isn’t just about this animal,” says Rachel Loehman, a research landscape ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey working with Karraker. The salamanders have become “an interesting lens to look at all of the changing mountain conditions,” Loehman says.
Indeed, the search to better understand a single facet of the park, like this vanishing species, can offer a window into changes across the landscape. In 2022, the preserve reported 69 active research permits that represent astonishing breadth. Endangered species surveys at Valles Caldera have searched for Mexican spotted owls and New Mexico meadow jumping mice. Researchers have tracked down the difficult-to-reach dens mountain lions tuck into to birth and raise kittens. They’ve counted the numbers of native and non-native fish species in streams, finding a preponderance of the latter.
Beyond wildlife, scientists have also studied how wildfire has affected the ecology and archaeological sites in the Jemez Mountains. They’ve tracked how vegetation returns after blazes like the 2011 Las Conchas Fire blackened the landscape. As an outstanding example of a young caldera—geologically speaking, of course—it’s a prime place to study those geologic features.
The Jemez salamanders, measuring only a few inches in length, are tiny but significant indicators of the ecological health of the Valles Caldera.
Photograph courtesy of NPS/Chris Cirrincione.
This year, ongoing research led by New Mexico Technical University professor Daniel Jones is examining extremophiles—bacteria living in very hot or acidic springs, lakes, and mud pots—at Sulphur Springs and Alamo Canyon. These organisms eat sulfur the way humans eat sugar, he says, and their primary food source comes in volcanic gases bubbling up from below ground. He regularly takes students to explore what lives in extreme environments, which has the potential to inform the search for life on other planets.
For Karraker and Loehman, their latest efforts include using microchips to track salamanders, even when they’re hiding from the heat or dry weather underground. The focus is on better understanding details in a microclimate, like which temperatures, soil moisture levels, and rainfall levels correlate to which movements. If those metrics trend toward more favorable conditions for salamanders, and their numbers climb, it might signal that work to recover the whole landscape is making gains.
Read more: An author’s return to a changed landscape sparks reflection on this special place and how to create a deeper connection to it.
