Vernal Pool Project 2010

Introduction
Two vernal pools in Connecticut were study during the month of April for macroinvertebrate populations. The first pools was located at Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury and the second pool was located at Web Mountain in Monroe.
All the macroinveterbates were collected using a dip net, preserved in alcohol and identified later to the farther possible taxa. Both pools were populated by spring pipers and wood frogs.

Pool locations
Pool at Flanders is a latitude of 41.60010 decimal degrees and a longitude of - 73. 20289 decimal degrees. The pool at Web mountain is located at a latitude of 41.36488 decimal degrees and a longitude of - 73. 17296 decimal degrees. This pool was 3 times larger that the pool at Flanders.

Results

Flanders

Number Group Taxa
39 Crustacea Caedidotea Communis
17 Gastropoda Physa heterostropha
2 Insecta Chaulionidae spp. (Megaloptera)
2 Insecta Leptophobia spp. (Ephemeroptera)
6 Insecta Cromagrion spp. (Odonata)
1 Insecta Limnephilidae (Platycentropus ?) (Tricoptera)
4 Gastropoda Veneroida spp.
1 Insecta Pyralidae (Lepidoptera)

Web Mountain

31 Crustacea Caecidotea Communis (Isopods)
1 Gastropoda Fingernail Clam (sphaerium spp.)
1 Insecta Megaloptera (Corydalus spp.)
21 Insect Beetles (Coleoptera) Prionocyphon spp.
8 Insecta Midges (Chironomidae)
2 Insecta Phanton midges (Chaoboridae)
1 Insecta Adult Cadisfly (Trichoptera)
7 Insecta Primitive minnow mayflies (siphlonuridae)
1 Arachnida Spider
1 Insecta Dult beetle (Coleoptera)
1 Insecta Damselfly (Coenagrionidae)
1 Insecta Coleoptera (Elmidae)


Conclusions
In both pools the community was composed mainly of crustaceans, gastropods and insects. Isopod crustaceans were intensely abundant, Fingernail Clams appeared in both pools. There was a broader variety of insect orders between both pools. The size of the pool may have been the limiting factor for the insect population at Flanders. Diptera was much more abundant in the larger pool.

Bog at its best

In one of my recent vacations I traveled to West Quoddy Head State Park in Lubec, Maine. This beautiful seashore park is the eastern most point in the Continental United States. A wonderful shore location along steep hills and cliffs that grab the attention of most travelers.
Inside the park and along the mayor trail is a black spruce bog where I took some of these pictures. Here anyone can find unbelievable pitchers plants, sundew, Labrador tea, and many more typical artic or tundra plants. These 10 acre bog is a classroom at its best. Lovely to see when the fog comes in from the shore and lightens its mystic character for everyone there to see. Enjoy the pictures and if you need information on how to get there write me a note!

Web Mountain Park is a small preserved located in Monroe. Last week some of my high School kids spotted this female Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) seating on its eggs.
It was amazing to me the ability of this bird to hide in the woods next to a large tree and close to a small stream. Go out there! Open your eyes! And you will discover the wonders of nature.

A word on Invasive Japanese Knotweed

Invasive plants are an alarming problem, and especially when a patch of these plants are found on a central area within a nature sanctuary. Two days ago as I was hiking inside the white trail in the Whittemore Sanctuary in Middlebury, CT. I found an impressive Japanese Knotweed patch within a forested clearing. This growth will expand to new areas if not carefully eradicated.
Japanese Knotweed or Polygonum cuspidatum also known with the names of Mexican bamboo, Japanese’s fleece flower or crimson beauty is a persistent plant that is very difficult to eradicate. It requires annual and consistent cut or pull sometimes 2 or 3 times during the growing season. Some herbicides will also help.
This plant can change the ecosystem by quickly spreading to form dense patches that will exclude native plant populations. It can survive floods, high salinities, and can cause structural damage to foundations.Walk you favorite nature area and look for invasive plants that if eradicated soon will keep the nature area pristine. Alberto F. Mimo

The art of the Naturalist

By Alberto F. Mimo

Jimsonweed at a Rhode Island Beach

Datura stramonium is a rather large annual herb that was flowering at Roger Wheeler State Beach. This beautiful and toxic plant contains Totropane Alkaloids that can cause hallucinations and death. I took these pictures for your enjoyment.

Some important points to remember

• You do not have to walk around the world and know what everything is!



• Walk with a sense of discover!



• Feel just like if you were Humboldt or maybe Darwin!



• Choose one plant



• Is a tree, or maybe a shrub, or forbs?
  



• f it is forbs, is it a flowering plant, a grass or maybe a fern, or one of the non- vascular plants like a moss?



• Work your way with the right ID book and find what it is?



• Start to fill in your data sheet and ask all the questions. Spend time with each question! This is not a race to see who can ID the most plants. This is an experience, the experience of the scientist, the naturalist!



• Is your plant found only here? Do I find it everywhere?



• Is your plant rare?



• To what family does it belongs?



• Draw a sketch, Take a picture, and Test the pH of the soils!



• Oh soils! How much is there to learn about them and how little attention we pay to them! Using the web you can learn lots about the particular soils where you found your plant. Use the tools you have around you, we are not anymore in the Stone Age! Tools are the web, microscopes, GPS units, Maps of all kinds, Books and more books



• Can you write something about this plant? If you can’t use books and the web to get information



• A plant is not just a plant, it lives with a community, is found within a particular season, it inhabits a special place! Take a look at the whole subject, not just the plant! Habitat, habitat, habitat! Nitch, nitch, nitch!



• Take measurements, calculate percent cover, dominance. Use plant-measuring techniques!



• Spend time with your plant; take a good look at it. Look at its leaves, the flowers, the fruit, and the roots! Every one of these parts evolved with a particular idea in mind. Why is your plant the way it is? How does it relates to its nitch?



• Are there any friends with your plant? It is being eaten by some insect. Interspecific relationships between different organisms are some of the important things to note, don’t miss the opportunity!



• Take a sample, press it carefully, once it’s dry, mount it with care, make a label. Go back to your notes and sketches and work with them to fine tune your work!



• Add your collection to you database; have you have collected it before? If so, where? Compare the two collections.



• Each plant belongs to a family; each family has its own story. Learn about all that!



• Take your time and learn the ways of a good naturalist!
  
  Notes from RI

The Connecticut World of Crayfish

By Alberto F. Mimo
nenaturalist@sbcglobal.net
This spring and summer I will be completing an inventory of Crayfish living in ponds and lakes in Connecticut, so during the last few weeks I have been setting up traps at a number of lakes in the northwest.
In the past I have been able to identify three separate genus: Procambarus, Cambarus and Orconectes . The State of Connecticut Fisheries has also come to the same conclusion. I have accounted for a total of 11 species. Most of our work has been concentrated in rivers and streams. Lakes and Ponds have not been thoroughly researched. Last week I read a paper published on the North Eastern Naturalist regarding the infestation of small ectosymbiont annelid known as a Branchiobdellida (Stuart R. Gelder, Lana Mcrry, and Evan Gwillian, North Eastern Naturalist, V 16, 2009, 45-52). As it happen two of the Crayfish collected from Bantam River were heavily infected with this annelid. Two species for the price of one! It appears that such an infestation has not been recorded in New England until now and it will be something to look after with all the climate changes we are experiencing.