WHAT ARE VERNAL POOLS?
Vernal pools
are unique and vulnerable kinds of wetlands. They are
usually ephemeral (temporary) pools that fill with snow melt and spring
run-off, then dry sometime during the summer. However, vernal pools
also include pools that fill at other times of the year. Many of these
pools are vital breeding habitat for certain amphibians and
invertebrates such as wood frogs, spotted and blue spotted salamanders,
and fairy shrimp. What makes vernal pools such excellent breeding
habitat is the seasonal nature of the pools that excludes fish
populations that would prey on the offspring. Vernal pools are not only
used for reproduction. Other species such as spring peepers, gray tree
frogs, and a number of bird species use pools for feeding and resting.
These important wetlands are some of the most vulnerable because they
are small, isolated, and often dry, therefore unrecognizable. They are
easily destroyed, frequently because they small or are dry.
Vernal pools
not only provide vital habitat for local plants and
animals, they are also important features in the landscape. Think of
pools as islands in a sea of upland forest. Groups of pools form
stepping stones of hospitable habitat for wildlife that are dependent
on wetlands to travel. Animals may skip over one pool to find a more
suitable one nearby. If the wetland mosaic of pools within an upland
community is altered, wildlife populations may be isolated and more
vulnerable to changes in their surroundings.
-INTERESTING
RANDOM NEWS-
-The
endangered blue spotted salamander
live in
vernal pools only.
-Vernal pools
are ephemeral (not there all year round).
Bibliogophy