March in like a lion, and well, out like a lion...
On March 16, the song of the woodfrogs was still ringing from the vernal pools, this adult was heading out of the very cold water. That evening we had a near record low of 32 degrees.
The wood frog is a master of "freezing point depression" and will convert large amounts of glycogen from the liver to glucose as a solute into the blood when temperatures get dangerously cold. This lowers the freezing point below 32 degrees and helps remove water from cells where ice crystal formation would cause damage. This is not an uncommon system in the natural world, and helps explain why many creatures are able to survive extreme winter conditions.
The next day, March 17, we had another significant snow and temperatures around 27 degrees. The vernal pools remained relatively quiet, with wood frog eggs being the first laid and few salamanders migrating to the pools.
The Workshop:
March 22 was our vernal pool workshop this year. Mike Hayslett joined us again for for a public program, covering the basics of vernal pool function and their importance for our amphibians. The wood frogs were the stars of the show! We also discussed crayfish, a potential invasive species problem. In this case, Orconectes limosus, our native crayfish lives happily in limited numbers in out wetlands. Look out for the rusty crayfish (Oronectes rusticus), native to the Ohio valley, in your wetlands. It has many dark spots along the side. and out competes our native crayfish. The photo here is of limosus, they are here in relatively small numbers.
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