Environ Monit Assess (2009) 156:1–16 DOI 10.1007/s10661-008-0459-3 A comparison of techniques to sample salamander assemblages along highland streams of Maryland G. F. Strain · R. L. Raesly · R. H. Hilderbrand Received: 4 December 2007 / Accepted: 26 June 2008 / Published online: 18 July 2008 © Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2008 Abstract Amphibians may be useful indicators of biological condition in small streams so de- termining which sampling technique maximizes encounters at the least cost and at the optimal time of year is important. Area constrained sur- veys (ACS), used by the Maryland Biological Stream Survey, were tested against cover board surveys, drift fences with pitfall and funnel traps, quadrat leaf litter searches, and leaf litter bags. Sixteen, 100 m-long sites were established in head- water streams in the Savage River State For- est in Garrett County, Maryland. Each technique was randomly assigned to a 25 m stream section within each overall sampling site, and sites were sampled once each month from May to October (2005) with additional sampling in March and April (2006). Area constrained surveys yielded means of 2.7 taxa and 14.9 total individuals per sampling visit, which was significantly higher than the yield of all other methods in all months except October and March, when yields were low for all G. F. Strain (B ) · R. L. Raesly Department of Biology, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA e-mail: gstrain54@yahoo.com R. H. Hilderbrand Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA techniques. Area constrained surveys were also significantly more cost-effective per taxon and per individual compared to all other methods. Sep- tember produced the most taxa and individuals, October and March produced the least, and yields for April through August were similar to Sep- tember. We employed removal sampling at four sites in April 2006, but abundance could not be estimated because a significant linear decrease in the accumulated catch versus catch per unit effort did not occur for three of the sites. Keywords Amphibians · Area constrained survey · Biological monitoring · Cover board survey · Drift fence survey · Highland streams · Leaf litter bags · Maryland · Quadrat leaf litter search · Salamanders Introduction The Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS), a probability-based survey of Maryland’s non- tidal streams (Klauda et al. 1998), uses metrics for fishes and benthic invertebrates to assess stream condition. Indices of biotic integrity (IBIs) using fishes, however, are not useful for streams drain- ing catchments of less than 300 acres because fish species richness and abundance are too low (Klauda et al. 1998; Southerland et al. 2000, 2004). Multiple geological and hydrological barriers