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| [Photo credit: Lisa Culp] |
A few weeks back a big group from the Shedd Aquarium and some of the most enthusiastic amphibian-lovers around came out to take a look at the health of a few of the Somme Woods’ ephemeral pools. Ephemeral pools are small to medium water bodies that form in low areas from melted snow and spring rains then typically dry up sometime during the summer – thus their ephemeralness. They provide unique habitat for amphibians particularly because they are fishless. Permanent water bodies inevitably become inhabited by fish who love to eat salamander and frog eggs. Some amphibian species reproduce just fine in fishy pools, but others, such as the blue-spotted salamander, do not. Ephemeral pools are some of the most threatened habitat around, and Somme Woods is home to 14 of them as well as a healthy population of chorus frogs and spring peepers – other ephemeral pool-dependent species.
As we explored some ephemeral pools in late June we noticed just how shallow they had become. You see, as buckthorn takes over an area it shades out the lovely understory including sedges, forbs, native shrubs, and other erosion-controlling plants. This means that dirt and leaves wash straight into the pools and quite quickly can snuff them out all together. Currently at Somme Woods this is happening to many of our ephemeral pools – some of which are nearly filled in with mucky mud. Even so, a quick log-flipping expedition will show that salamanders can still be found around these erosion-sabotaged pools. But as I’ve flipped logs this year and admired the ethereal blue, constellation-like bodies of these little creatures, I began to wonder, “What does a baby salamander look like anyway… none of these look very babyish.” Then when one of the Shedd aquarium animal caretakers informed me that blue-spotted salamanders typically live about 10 years, something terrifying clicked in my mind – What if our Somme Woods salamanders aren’t reproducing? If the water quality and food supply in these shallow pools has degraded extensively enough it is quite possible that the adult salamanders follow their spring ritual each year to no avail. I imagined the sweet creatures pulling themselves up out of their winter burrows, migrating across the frosty early-spring leaf litter, mating, laying eggs in the shallow, murky pool that once held a great bounty of bugs to eat and oxygen producing plants, and then snoozing under a log for the remainder of the summer, only to have their precious eggs whither and their few hatched offspring snuff out like the pool they were born in. If it’s true, what a sad and preventable thing to have happen!
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| Shedd Aquarium staff attempt to take water quality readings from an almost dried up ephemeral pool, surrounded by a buckthorn thicket. Little other plant or invertebrate life present. June 24, 2015 |
My grim daydream has haunted me since, but I was beginning to think that this year it would be impossible to know if blue-spotted salamanders are reproducing or not. That is, until yesterday. I was at the home of long-time stewards Jane and John Balaban and I began perusing their extensive natural history library. I encountered a book, “Natural History of Amphibians and Reptiles of Wisconsin” by Richard Carl Vogt. In which on page 42 it says:
“ [Blue-spotted salamanders] transform in mid- to late
August. Drying of the pond hastens transformation. The
newly transformed salamanders, 24-38 mm in snout-to-vent
length, look exactly like the adults except that they have
yellow flecks where the adults normally have blue. Within
2 weeks the color transformation takes place.”
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| John and Jane Balaban hold “Natural History of Amphibians and Reptiles of Wisconsin.” August 13, 2015 |
I was totally taken aback. “Yellow flecks!” “Mid- to late August!” This means that the young adult salamanders of Somme Woods are likely emerging from their natal pools as we speak, and it is immensely simple to tell them apart from their adult counterparts – so long as we find them within the correct two-week period. Perhaps they’re there right now, sitting under duffy logs, spotted yellow and waiting for us to search them out. Or did most of the pools dry up too quickly for them to transform from their fully aquatic to terrestrial form? I suppose you’ll have to join me soon on a baby salamander hunt to check it out!
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To find out more about the contents of this article or how to become a habitat restoration superhero, contact Cecil Hynds-Riddle at cecilhyndsriddle@gmail.com.
