Vernal Pools
Is That a Mud Puddle in Your Yard? Or is it Teeming with Life?
Dec 19, 2008 Marcia Passos Duffy
In the springtime to early summer there may be plenty of pools and puddles of water in the landscape. They may look muddy, murky and lifeless, maybe even unsightly. Maybe you’ve even considered grading or draining these pools of water to even out the landscape. Or you’ve thought it would look much nicer transformed into a small ornamental pond for goldfish.
Before you do anything to these pools of water, walk on over take a closer look. Actually squat down and look carefully into the water.
Mud Puddles Teem with Life
The murkiness you see may not just be pond scum, but instead are tiny eggs – of wood frogs, mole salamanders and tiny fairy shrimp – you may even see tadpoles swimming about.
Earlier in the season, you no doubt witnessed their parents frantically crossing roads (often getting creamed by cars) out from their winter habitat in the woods. What they were searching for and risking life and limb is right there in what looks like just a mud puddle.
Vernal Pools: Nurseries for Small Creatures
These are vernal pools, little nurseries for hundreds of small creatures which depend on these temporary water sources for their life cycles.
Because the pools don’t hold water permanently, there are no fish to eat the eggs – ensuring the best survival for these creatures. While large wetlands have generally received a lot of attention and are protected in many areas, vernal pools (sometimes called “pocket wetlands”) are equally important because of the wetland and woodland creatures that seek out these isolated vernal pools to breed – without them, they would not survive.
Why Should You Care About Vernal Pools?
Because vernal pools are small and often hard to identify (particularly in the dry season) and have limited regulation, they are often heavily impacted by development. Because of this, vernal pools - and the species that depend on them - are rapidly disappearing.
Many vernal pool frogs and salamanders travel back to the pools where they were born to breed – and rarely look for another spot if their birth pool is destroyed or disturbed. One Massachusetts study showed that a local species of wood frogs were wiped out when just a small area around it was developed.
Because of the increasing awareness of the importance of vernal pools, they are starting to receive attention and regulatory protection in many states.
What Do Vernal Pools Look Like?
Vernal pools range widely in size from very small to very large – some pools are the size of a small room, while others have surface areas of over an acre. All vernal pools are shallow and dry periodically and do not support fish. A typical pool might be 30 feet by 100 feet long and 3 feet in depth.
Vernal pools can be found in low areas of a forest, in the floodplain of a river or stream, in an open field, between coastal dunes, in abandoned quarries or natural rock formations and other areas where water might pool.
What to Do if You Find a Vernal Pool on Your Property
Basically, leave it alone:
- Don’t clean it out of all branches, which are egg-attachment sites.
- Don’t bring a lawn right to the edge.
- Leave coarse woody debris near the edges for hiding locations for young salamanders and frogs.
- Don't add goldfish.
- Prevent fertilizer and pesticide runoff.
- Try to prevent any barriers to migration.
- Get to know and understand the types of creatures that make their home on your property; they can provide a good learning experience for children.
A Mud Puddle or Vernal Pool?
|
What do you think about this article?
Latest Articles