Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

1st alternative:
      (Northern Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Spruce/Fir (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Hemlock (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Mixed Upland Conifer (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Mixed Northern Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Any Forested Lowland (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or Treed Bog
   containing:
      (Dead Down Woody Debris and Vernal Pools)

2nd alternative:
      (Northern Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Spruce/Fir (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Hemlock (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Mixed Upland Conifer (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Mixed Northern Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Any Forested Lowland (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or Treed Bog
   containing:
      (Dead Down Woody Debris)
   adjacent to:
      Pond

3rd alternative:
      (Northern Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Spruce/Fir (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Hemlock (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Mixed Upland Conifer (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Mixed Northern Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Any Forested Lowland (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or Treed Bog
   containing:
      (Dead Down Woody Debris)
   adjacent to:
      (Marsh 2 or Bog or Lowland Brush)      
   adjacent to:
      Pond

Habitat List:

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Literature:

This frog is well named as it is found in a variety of wooded habitats, from the coniferous and mixed hardwood forests of northern Michigan to farm woodlots and floodplain swamp woods in the south. They soon disappear when moist, shady environments are eliminated.

Wood frogs breed in early spring, moving to temporary woodland ponds, bogs, and floodings in late March and early April, sometimes while patches of snow are still on the ground.

Wood frogs leave the water after breeding and spend the summer on the forest floor, where they eat insects, spiders, and other small invertebrates.

Habitat: Terrestrial; in mesic woods, often far from water during the summer months as woodland ponds dry up; xeric woods with moist microhabitats. Prefers wooded areas with small ponds for breeding. Found in boreal conifer forests, swamps, and upland hardwood forests to elevations of 1,158 m. Found in bogs and trap rock slopes in Connecticut. Hibernates under moist forest floor debris or flooded meadows from October to late March. Embryos and larvae showed limited tolerance to water with a high humic content in a Minnesota peat bog.

Special Habitat Requirements: Prefers temporary woodland pools, back waters of slow-moving streams.

Habitat: Wood frogs are entirely terrestrial except during the breeding season. They breed in semi-permanent pools or in grassy ditches, cattail swamps, old gravel pits, or hollows in alder thickets that are temporarily flooded by spring rains. These sites are usually within or near wooded areas. In summer, wood frogs range widely in cool, moist woods, where they are active both during the day and at night. Winter hibernation sites are found in rotting logs and stumps, and under rocks, thick mats of moss, or decaying leaf litter in the woods.

Wood frog populations are directly affected in some areas by habitat destruction resulting from urban sprawl, commercial development, forestry practices, and highway maintenance procedures. The breeding site where the northern wood frog was initially discovered in Maine was obliterated when a cedar swamp was cut and filled for commercial construction. Elsewhere a large alder swamp utilized by hundreds of breeding amphibians were completely drained by highway crews deepening ditches and installing culverts. In one instance, an old beaver pond was virtually abandoned as a breeding site after the surrounding forest was clearcut almost to the water's edge.