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In the forest, small, temporary wetlands provide essential habitat to a variety of animals. Amphibians are the most widely recognized inhabitants of woodland pools. The fish-less water bodies provide them with the perfect place for mating and laying eggs.
On the first warm, rainy night in spring, thousands of frogs and salamanders may travel a thousand feet from their upland homes to low-lying woodland pools. Mass migrations happen at night, so most people miss them. Amphibians are secretive, breeding under the cover of darkness and returning to their forest floor homes until next spring.
This time of the year, if you look into a woodland pool you can see amphibian eggs. The gelatinous masses are about the size of a fist, just beneath the water’s surface. Some are clear, some are white – some occur in large groups. An individual pool can house hundreds of egg masses.
Salamander eggs are attached to sticks under the water and covered in a thick coat of jelly. In the Northeast, spotted, marbled, blue-spotted, and Jefferson’s salamanders all breed in woodland pools. Large groups of eggs at the water’s surface belong to wood frogs.
Other animals found in woodland pools include caddisflies, which build protective cases around their bodies, majestic fairy shrimp, rhythmically swimming just below the water’s surface, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, water beetles, and countless other small creatures.
The variety of life in woodland pools is amazing. And what ties it all together is that these animals can only live in aquatic habitats without fish.
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This segment was written in collaboration with Michael Rubbo of Teatown Lake Reservation
Photo, taken on March 13, 2011, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Northeast Region 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.