Vernal Pools for Smithfield Land Trust
Senior biology major Jonathan Youngman is working with Prof. Twining to research vernal pools on behalf of the Smithfield Land Trust at their Wolf Hill Forest Preserve in Smithfield, RI. A vernal pool is a confined depression that generally fills with water in the winter and spring, and dries up in the summer, or at least periodically. Because of this periodic drying, fish cannot live in the pools, allowing amphibians, such as wood frogs and spotted salamanders, to breed and develop.
The 250-acre preserve boasts five vernal pools, each with its own unique characteristics. During the exceptionally dry month of March, two of these pools were dry, so Jonathan is working with the three pools that had successful amphibian breeding this spring.
The question Jonathan is seeking to answer is: "How does larval development of wood frogs and spotted salamanders relate to the hydroperiod of the pool?" Hydroperiod refers to the length of time that a pool stays wet. If the larvae do not develop fast enough, they may not be mature enough to leave a pool that dries up quickly in the summer. Jonathan is also looking at several related factors that may cause one pool to dry up more quickly than another, including the amount of shade, water temperature, percentage of canopy cover, and light intensity at the water's surface.
Jonathan began his research by counting the wood frog and spotted salamander egg masses in each pool. Nearly every weekend since April 14, when the first wood frog eggs began to hatch, Jonathan has been collecting tadpoles from several sampling stations at each pool, measuring them, and noting their stage of development. He and Prof. Twining have also been recording the types of macroinvertebrates present in the pools, the water depth, and water chemistry measurements such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and total dissolved solids.
Jonathan plans to monitor the pools througout the summer until the wood frogs and spotted salamanders begin to emerge and migrate into the surrounding forest. We will update this web site as more information becomes available through further observation and the assessment of the data.
Smithfield Land Trust is delighted to have Jonathan conducting this research on their behalf and is looking forward to the results of his research.
Wolf Hill Forest Preserve, Vernal Pool
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Jon Youngman collects and measures tadpoles
Wood frog tadpole
Spotted salamander larva
Predaceous diving beetle larva eating spotted salamander larva
Wood frog egg raft
Spotted salamander egg mass
Jon Youngman collects and measures tadpoles
Wood frog tadpole
Spotted salamander larva
Predaceous diving beetle larva eating spotted salamander larva
Wood frog egg raft
Spotted salamander egg mass
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