Watch the short here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBeOuMtMZZm/
There was 1 topic that got cut from the main wetlands video, and that was vernal pools! Vernal pools are a seasonal wetland that are usually about the size of a pond. They dry up in the summer, but over the fall, winter, and spring, amphibians like salamanders, newts, and frogs use them as breeding grounds that are safely isolated from predatory fish. They’re super weird and super cool!
Transcript
- Wait, I almost forgot! There’s actually a secret FIFTH option for wetlands, and they’re really weird! It’s like a shiny wetland!
- Vernal pools are halfway between a bog and a seasonal pond. They form in shallow basins that collect rainwater, but they go through phases of being flooded, waterlogged, and dry (Keeley & Zedler, 1998).
- One of the things that makes vernal pools so weird is that the temperature and pH of the water swing wildly throughout the course of the day. The layer of water is usually pretty thin, so conditions can change rapidly based on exposure to sunlight (Keeley & Zedler, 1998).
- Vernal pools flood during the fall from rain and melting snow, and over the course of fall and winter, they play a vital role in the forests around them. You see, amphibians bridge an important gap in the food chain between invertebrates and larger animals (Liles, 2021).
- And every year, all sorts of newts, salamanders, and frogs use vernal pools to lay their eggs for the next generation. Vernal pools provide a safe breeding grounds because they’re temporary and they’re isolated from freshwater sources that would have fish (Liles, 2021).
- Over the summer, vernal pools dry up and just look like any ol’ patch of land. It’s then that they’re the most vulnerable — developers who either don’t care or just don’t know better will come along and build on top of them.
- We’re losing vernal pools rapidly: we’ve already lost over 90% of the vernal pools in California (US EPA, 2024), a state where they used to be incredibly abundant. After all, it’s hard to put protections in place for an ecosystem that’s only there some of the time.
- Check out the video in my bio to learn more about the other types of wetlands, and follow for more cool science!
B-roll/image credits
- Rainy wetland: mraltamimi/Pixabay
- Golden stag beetle: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos
- Raccoon: Paxson Woelber/Wikimedia
- Construction site: bellergy/Pixabay
- Vernal pools diagram: California State Parks
- Newts courting: Steven David Johnson/stevendavidjohnson.com (NON-FREE LICENSE)
- Wood frog: Steven David Johnson/stevendavidjohnson.com (NON-FREE LICENSE)
- Salamander egg clutch video: Steven Johnson/stevendavidjohnson.com (NON-FREE LICENSE)
References
- Celebrezze, D. (2016, May 27). VernalPoolGuy. Vernalpoolguy.org. https://www.vernalpoolguy.org/archive.php
- Holland, R. F. (2009). California’s great valley vernal pool habitat status and loss: rephotorevised 2005. Placer Land Trust Report, Auburn, California, 23pp
- Keeley, J. E., & Zedler, P. H. (1998). Characterization and global distribution of vernal pools. In Ecology, conservation, and management of vernal pool ecosystems, proceedings from 1996 conference (Vol. 1, p. 14).
- Liles, L. (2021, May 28). The Birth of a Salamander. The Nature Conservancy. https://www.nature.org/en-us/magazine/magazine-articles/vernal-pools/
- Mooney, H. A., & Zavaleta, E. (2016). Ecosystems of California. University Of California Press.
- US EPA. (2024, May 15). Vernal Pools. US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/vernal-pools