Backswimmers are our friends

Tamposi Land, July 24, 2007, partly sunny

Today was a day well spent at the vernal pool. The water level and perimeter of each little pool declined significantly. This will be our last day doing observations of the water and aquatic life. We are starting to make too much of an impact on these fragile bodies of water. Very interesting observations today. The front pool, Laverne was loaded with Isopods and Backswimmers. In our tray of scooped water, we saw Backswimmers capture and eat the Isopods. We also saw Water Boatman, Water Scorpions and Phantom Midges. In the back pool, Shirley, it was quite different. There were no Isopods in the water we scooped and observed. We did discover that Backswimmers eat live mosquitoes that land on the water. There are a lot of Backswimmers in each of these little pools and they must eat many emerging mosquitoes in the early spring. Backswimmers are our friends.

Backswimmer:



Mary and Rick Checking out our little ecosystem:
Water Scorpion:






Question of the day?????
Does the composition of the floor of the Vernal Pool i.e.- leaf litter type, soil type, plant life- effect which organisms will inhabit that part of the Vernal Pool?

We Are Group Vernal!

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Group Vernal is Yvonna, Tessa, Mary, and Rick...



And these are our babies:


LAVERNE
AND
SHIRLEY
Our ultimate questions are: How do you define a vernal pool? How are these ecosystems ecologically important?

What is a vernal pool and are we actually studying a vernal pool?

Vernal pool-Vernal pools, also called ephemeral pools, are temporary pools of water. They are devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species.

Day one out on the Tamposi we looked for the signs that what we were studying was in fact a vernal pool. First, we found that the area was isolated with no water source flowing in or out of the pool. Two, there were no populations of fish present in the remaining water of the pool. And three, the species that were present, such as green frogs, helped us determine this was what we were hoping for!

This pool is interesting because most vernal pools are dried up by this time of year. We are very lucky to have any water! Laverne and Shirley are the two areas where water remains but literally a week earlier they were connected. She is draining fast!

Stay tuned for more...