Abstract
With human populations increasing worldwide, habitat destruction and degradation are among the greatest threats facing wildlife. To minimize the impacts of development on aquatic habitats, numerous conservation measures have been implemented, including the use of riparian buffer zones along streams and rivers. We examined the effectiveness of current buffer‐zone systems for management of small watersheds in conserving stream‐dwelling salamander populations in 10 small streams ( draining R 2 = 0.71 for Desmognathus fuscus and 0.48 for Eurycea cirrigera ), we found little to no correlation between the relative abundance of salamanders and the percentage of disturbed habitat present within buffer zones ( R 2 = 0.06–0.27 for D. fuscus and 0.01–0.07 for E. cirrigera ). Thus, conservation efforts aimed at preserving salamander populations in headwater streams must consider land use throughout entire watersheds, rather than just preserving small riparian buffer zones.