While walking through the forest in early spring, you might hear a raucous quacking off in the distance. Make your way toward the sound, and you’ll likely find a small pool of water bustling with activities.
The commotion quickly stops as you approach the pool’s edge, leaving the water smooth and silent. The pool is fairly small, not much bigger than a swimming pool, and only a few feet deep. It isn’t connected to any water, though water may flow out of the pool if it has become swollen from rain water or snow-melt.
These temporary forest wetlands are commonly referred to as vernal pools. Vernal derives from the Latin vernalis, which loosely translates to ‘of the spring.’ But because pools can also form after heavy autumn rain, ‘woodland pool’ is a more accurate way to describe this unique ecosystem.
“Vernal pool is kind of a misnomer.”
Michael Rubbo is with Teatown Lake Reservation…
“Typically, the pools will fill from rainwater or snow-melt in the fall or spring. The amphibians will begin breeding pretty much in early spring – so March or so. And then their eggs hatch into larvae that remain in the pool and grow until they can go through metamorphosis in early summer – June, July, that time – and then the pool is probably dry by August or so.”
Animals that breed in woodland pools are a critical component to biodiversity. And the pools play an important role in the cycling of energy and nutrients in our forests.
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This segment was written in collaboration with Michael Rubbo of Teatown Lake Reservation.
Photo, taken on April 19, 2006, courtesy of Dan Century via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.