Longleaf pine savannas historically supported abundant ground cover maintained by frequent fire but little other disturbance. Ground cover creates microclimates with lower temperatures, higher humidity, and increased soil moisture that may benefit wildlife, particularly small vertebrates such as amphibians. Today, most historical pine savannas have had extensive soil disturbance and altered fire regimes resulting in reduced ground cover and altered soil fauna communities including predatory invertebrates. We used a factorial terrestrial cage study to test the effects of native wiregrass (Aristida spp.) cover and the exclusion of a native predatory ant (Dorymyrmex smithi) on the survival of post-metamorphic Ornate chorus frogs (Pseudacris ornata) and Gopher frogs (Rana capito). Although we were unable to achieve full ant exclusion, ant reduction in exclusion treatments and plant cover had an interactive effect on metamorph survival. Ant exclusion tended to increase Gopher frog survival and this effect was more pronounced when wiregrass was present. Within ant treatments, survival of Gopher frogs increased slightly with increasing wiregrass cover. Ornate chorus frogs had a high probability of survival (>95%) in all ant exclusion treatments regardless of wiregrass cover; however, in treatments without ant exclusion, survival increased with increasing wiregrass cover. Our results demonstrate that high abundances of a native ant species and low coverage of native wiregrass, which are legacies of historical soil disturbance and altered fire regimes, interact to elevate mortality of juvenile amphibians. Minimizing soil disturbance and restoring native ground cover are likely important for amphibian habitat management within historical southeastern pine savannas.

中文翻译：

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地面覆盖和本地蚂蚁捕食影响正在恢复的东南松树稀树草原中变质两栖动物的生存

长叶松稀树草原在历史上支持丰富的地面覆盖，由频繁的火灾维持，但很少有其他干扰。地被植物创造了温度较低、湿度较高和土壤湿度增加的小气候，这可能有利于野生动物，尤其是两栖动物等小型脊椎动物。今天，大多数历史悠久的松树稀树草原都受到了广泛的土壤扰动和火势的改变，导致地面覆盖减少和土壤动物群落（包括掠食性无脊椎动物）发生了改变。我们使用阶乘陆栖笼子研究来测试原生线草 ( Aristida spp.) 覆盖和排除原生掠食性蚂蚁 ( Dorymyrmex smithi ) 对变形后的华丽合唱青蛙 ( Pseudacris ornata ) 生存的影响) 和地鼠蛙 ( Rana capito）。尽管我们无法实现完全的蚂蚁排除，但排除处理中的蚂蚁减少和植物覆盖对变质存活率具有交互作用。蚂蚁排斥倾向于增加地鼠青蛙的存活率，当存在铁丝草时，这种效果更加明显。在蚂蚁治疗中，随着铁丝草覆盖率的增加，地鼠蛙的存活率略有增加。在所有蚂蚁排除处理中，无论线草覆盖情况如何，华丽的合唱青蛙都有很高的存活率（> 95%）；然而，在不排除蚂蚁的治疗中，存活率随着线草覆盖率的增加而增加。我们的研究结果表明，本地蚂蚁物种的高丰度和本地铁丝草的低覆盖率是历史土壤扰动和火情改变的遗产，相互作用提高了幼年两栖动物的死亡率。