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Annual salamander love-in means spring is on the way
Students from Centerville, Bellbrook spend a night watching the little amphibians at Sugarcreek MetroPark
Sunday, March 15, 2009
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Centerville student Christina Falugi, 17, holds a spotted salamander Wednesday, March 11, after it was captured in a vernal pool at Sugarcreek MetroPark.
Educators and naturalists help students from Centerville and Bellbrook search a vernal pond for salamanders Wednesday, March 11, at Sugarcreek MetroPark.
A spotted salamander was captured and released Wednesday, March 11, back into the vernal pond at Sugarcreek MetroPark.SUGARCREEK TWP., Greene County — Under a nearly full moon and amid a full-throated chorus of chirping peeper frogs, about 30 Centerville and Bellbrook high school students caught salamanders in the act of mating at Sugarcreek MetroPark this week.
The educational program, hosted by Ohio Environmental Protection Agency scientists, is in its third year.
The once-a-year salamander love-in is one of nature's most reliable indicators that spring is on the way. It takes wet and warm weather to coax salamanders out of their forest burrows and to the vernal pool that is for salamanders the closest thing to a singles bar.
The insect-eating salamanders, who can live up to 20 years, return to breed in the pool where they began their lives.
Vernal pools are special. They can't contain fish, which eat salamander eggs. They're wet in the spring and dry up in summer. Only one is known in the MetroParks that host spotted salamanders, said Tom Schneider, an OEPA scientist.
Nico Avila-John, 17, from Bellbrook high, was out Wednesday night, March 11, for a class assignment on vernal pools.
"I thought it would be sweet," he said. He wasn't disappointed.
Brian Imhoff, 17, also of Bellbrook, said he "didn't know vernal pools were this big. It's a nice setup."
Schneider is also helping out with federal research on how to preserve salamander genetic material, known as spermatophores. He won't be using the population at the MetroPark because of the rarity of the spotted salamanders in the parks system.
Schneider said he's looking at other locations to collect.
The research is being coordinated by Chester Figiel Jr., supervisory fish biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Warm Springs, Ga.
Figiel said he's experimenting with deep freezing the salamander spermatophores because 13 species of salamanders are endangered or threatened.
Without a reliable artificial way to keep populations going, it's possible some species might become extinct.
Salamanders are an important part of the natural food chain, keeping insect populations in check and providing food for birds, mammals and fish, Figiel said.
