Newsletter of the Adopt-A-PondWetland Conservation Programmewww.torontozoo.com/adoptapond

In this IssueVernalis Project……..1-2Lily Pads & Cattails…...22002 Toad Festival……3Call‘um of the Wild..4-5Ephemeral WetlandConference……………6Ribbet’s Review………6Life in a Big Puddle...7-8

The Vernalis Project:Searching Ontario for Ephemeral Wetland Habitat

By: Bentley Christie

This spring marked the very humble beginnings ofthe Vernalis Project, a personal effort to compiledata on and raise awareness of ephemeralwetland habitats in Ontario.

With a quick surf of the webone can see that thesehabitats with the uniqueorganisms that live in andaround them have becomea hot topic for discussion inparts of the United States.Much of the attention hasbeen focused on California,where environmentalistshave been struggling toprevent developers andothers from destroying these unique habitats.According to various figures, over 90% of theephemeral wetlands (also referred to as temporaryand vernal pools/ponds) in the state have been

lost. How could this be?Well, as aptly stated onthe EnvironmentalProtection Agency’swebsite, these habitatsare “often smaller thanthe bulldozer thatthreatens to destroythem”. Commonly

appearing simply as oversized puddles, ephemeralwetlands are often overlooked because of theirsmall size and the characteristic dry phase.

The Fairy shrimp is anorganism that depends onephemeral wetlandhabitats for survival. Fairyshrimp are close relativesof the well-knowncrustaceans, brine shrimp(a.k.a. Sea MonkeysTM),and it was thesefascinating creatures thatoriginally ignited myinterest in ephemeralwetlands. Currently in

California, five Fairy shrimp species are listed aseither endangered or threatened, while continuedefforts are being made to attain protected statusfor others. In Ontario there are presently records fortwo different (but very closely related) species.

In terms of size and population Ontario is faced witha somewhat different situation, having more thantwice as much land area with about 1/3 thepopulation of California, so the threat may not bequite so apparent. It is very important to initiateand continue conservation efforts in Ontario,especially in the densely populated areas of the

Ontario’s Ephemeral Wetlands

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Vol. 12 No. 2 Summer 2002

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south, to prevent a similar fate as California. Thisyear my goal for the Vernalis Project was tolocate as many Fairy shrimp pools as I could inSouthern Ontario, a task more difficult than I hadplanned. Aside from the relatively short windowof opportunity (Fairy shrimp lifecycle is usuallycompleted in about a month), I soon discoveredthat there are many ephemeral wetlands thatdon’t have these crustaceans in them. In theend, I managed to track down 30 Fairy shrimppools but discovered many other ephemeralwetlands in the process.

So what does the future hold for the VernalisProject? Well, aside from continuing to expandthe database of Ontario’s ephemeral wetlands,I’m hoping to launch a website outlining mydiscoveries. I’m also very interested inincorporating amphibian and reptile(herpetofaunal) data into the project as well. Ibegan the Vernalis Project because I recognisedthat ephemeral wetlands in Ontario are oftenoverlooked habitats. I plan to continue my questto identify as many ephemeral wetlands as I canin Ontario in order to thwart a similar fate asephemeral wetlands in California.

*Editor’s Note:Bentley Christie is an honours Bachelor of Sciencegraduate in Biology (aquatic ecosystems). TheVernalis Project is an example of ONE personworking to make a difference.

To find out more about these habitats check outwww.vernalpool.org. Also, stay tuned towww.torontozoo.com/adoptapond foropportunities to participate in ephemeralwetland conservation in Ontario.

Lily Pads and Cattails

Adopt-A-Pond ProgrammeUpdates

By: Sarah Ingwersen

The Adopt-A-Pond Programme is developingnew resources for the conservation of Ephemeralwetland habitat in Ontario. These new resourcematerials will include three posters titled“Salamanders and Vernal Pools”, “Puddles NeedProtection” and “Ephemeral Wetlands ofOntario”. Next year we will develop ourEphemeral Wetland Curriculum Resource. Wehope that you, as Adopt-A-Pond participants, willfind them useful.

Salamanders and Vernal Pools poster is acollection of children’s art. School children in theNorth Bay area were asked to draw a picture ofthe relationship between salamanders andvernal pools [ephemeral wetlands]. In 1999,during the Monitoring Salamanders Conferencein North Bay, there was an art contest to selectthe drawings like the one pictured above.

Puddles Need Protection is a poster/flyer outlininghow to get involved in ephemeral wetlandconservation in Ontario.

Ephemeral Wetlands of Ontario is a poster guideto the characteristics and species of ephemeralwetlands in Ontario. The poster will includeinformation on salamanders, frogs, fairy shrimp,and ducks.

ONTARIO

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2002 Spring Toad Festival:A Trilling Good Time

By Sarah Ingwersen

Toronto Zoo's 4th annual Spring Toad Festival,presented by the Adopt-A-Pond Programme,was held on May 4th and 5th. This year’s festivalwas an overwhelming success. During the twoday festival, over 1500 people ventured into thewetland area to participate in the festival andcatch a glimpse of a calling or breeding toad.

The temperatures warmed enough to coax a fewmales to call, but again this year the sporadicspring temperatures disrupted the AmericanToad’s pond migration. The Festival is held the firstweekend in May in response to 15 years of datasupporting this period as the American toad’speak of breeding activity.

Festival-goers were the first to see the largeAmerican toad model perched on the sign roofat the wetlands. They met a giant Americantoad named “Toad,” who greeted passingvisitors, and they witnessed disappearing frogs

with the help of a magician! Festival-goerslearned how to makeorigami frogs andoperate the radiotelemetry equipmentthat is used for wildlifetracking. They alsolearned some frog callsand how to participatein Frogwatch-Ontario.

With the help of zoovolunteers, participantswere able to witnessother fascinatinglifeforms from aroundthe wetland includingleopard frogs, greenfrogs, water boatmen,dragonflies and red-winged blackbirds.Over 30 zoo volunteershelped to make the2002 Spring ToadFestival a success.

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Call’um of the Wild

Discovery at Cawthra BushBy: Donald Barber

The arrival of spring breathes new life into theforests and wetlands of Ontario. It is the time ofyear that grassroots stewards and naturalistsdream of exciting new discoveries to be made inthe natural world. This year in the Cawthra Bush,Mississauga, dreams came true. Naturalists,armed only with flashlights and camerasdiscovered large populations of Fairy Shrimp in aseries of vernal [ephemeral] ponds and anephemeral stream! (Fairy Shrimp are picturedbelow.)

Ephemeral or vernal ponds form in landscapedepressions by spring run off and/or high watertables. They dry up in mid to late summer, andtherefore cannot support fish populations,creating ideal habitat for a variety ofsalamanders, frogs and toads to lay their eggs.

What got us all fired up about Cawthra’s vernalponds was Bentley Christie, an honours biology(aquatic environments) graduate. Mr. Christie isworking on a vernal pond study and hehappened upon our website while researchingFairy Shrimp. In the past we had only found twoindividual Fairy Shrimp, but Mr. Christie's guidedtour was the catalyst for this year’s exciting

discovery of large populations of Fairy Shrimp inthe vernal ponds of Cawthra Bush. Mr. Christiereferred to the Cawthra vernal pool complex asa "remarkable find" and "thus far I haven't seenanything remotely like this in such an extensivelyurban environment."

The Friends of Cawthra Bush (FCB) along with Mr.Christie discovered the advantages of searchingat night for Fairy Shrimp, as they seemed to beattracted to flashlight beams. By attaching aflashlight to a tripod (photograph below) so thatthe light shines on a submerged square piece ofplastic with a grid, a person can return to thesame spot in a pond, repeatedly and documentthe number of Fairy Shrimp and size on any givennight. Not only are they easier to see butpopulation counts are easier to make using thismethod.

Fairy shrimp are one of several fascinatingspecies in the Cawthra Bush. One of thesespecies, the Jefferson salamander, has its lastrefuge there. This threatened species usesephemeral ponds to breed. They swim gracefullythrough the pond, diving down to the bottomthen gliding back to the surface to gulp some air.

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The photograph (below) was taken of aJefferson Salamander engaged in this ballet ona nighttime search.

Another species that was discovered inCawthra Bush this year was the ChimneyBuilding Crayfish. This species, unlike otherspecies of crayfish, can move about on dryland! They get their name from the chimney-like tunnels they dig to reach the water table.This enables them to live in areas that appearto be bone dry for months at a time.

The Cawthra Bush is an old growth ecosystemthat survives as a fragment of the originalenvironment, and is large enough to have twoforest interiors. FCB has worked hard to havethe Cawthra Bush recognised as more than astand of trees. Cawthra Bush now boasts acomplex of Provincially Significant Wetlands.The FCB found and continues to document

many of Cawthra's wetland species andfeatures.

FCB continues to find out fascinatinginformation about the vernal ponds of CawthraBush and the work is on-going. Frog Monitoringis currently underway for the first year at theCawthra Bush. Water flow measurements, rainfall data, and pond depth information areforwarded to the Ministry of Natural Resourcesand added to the Cawthra Bush wetlands file.

Cawthra Bush has attracted many experts whohave identified other fascinating species therelike Dead Man's Fingers (fungi) and Pileatedwoodpeckers. Cawthra Bush becamerecognised as provincially significant becauseour local community rallied together andmade some unique discoveries!

Editor’s NoteDon Barber is the president of Friends ofCawthra Bush. He continues to explore thenatural secrets of this important area with othermembers of the community.For more information on the amazing species inthis article check out the web sites listed below.

• Friends of the Cawthra Bush (FCB) site:http://home.eol.ca/~donbar/

• Fariyshrimp:http://www.vernalpool.org/inf_fs.htm

• Jefferson Salamanders:http://www.vernalpool.org/inf_mol.htm

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Ephemeral Wetlands:A Vanishing Habitat

ConferenceBy Sarah Ingwersen

Ephemeral wetlands, often overlooked habitats,were the focus for a two-day, comprehensiveconference in Chicago, Illinois. The EphemeralWetlands: A Vanishing Habitat Conference,hosted by the Midwest Environmental ProtectionAgency, incorporated a wide variety of topics.Presentations were organized under severalprimary headings including: natural history,conservation issues, indicator use, land use issues,restoration activities, conservation andeducation programmes, regulatory issues andfunding resources.

I travelled by train to Chicago in February toparticipate in this unique conference. Therewere over 300 representatives from a variety ofgovernment and non-government agencies,researchers, educators and students from acrossthe United States, and I was the only Canadian!

I presented a paper on the Adopt-A-Pond’sEphemeral Wetland Project. I covered thedevelopment of an on-line ephemeral wetlandregistry, curriculum resource, poster series,workshops, creation and restoration ofephemeral wetlands, and research (TheSnapping Turtle Critical Habitat Study has shownthat Snapping Turtles use ephemeral wetlands ashibernating and spring foraging sites). Thefeedback on Adopt-A-Pond’s initiatives wasenthusiastic and as a result several contacts weremade with ephemeral wetland experts in the U.S.

If I could have just one wish it would have beento see better representation from Canada.Ephemeral wetlands are an important habitat toconserve! With your help we can make OntarioCanada’s leader in Ephemeral wetlandconservation!

Ribbet’s Review By: Phung Tran

The Salamander RoomBy Anne Mazer, Illustrations by Steve Johnson &

Lou Fancer. ISBN: 0679861874Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1991

The Salamander Room is a story about a youngboy who finds a salamander in the woods anddecides to bring him home. The story is written forgrades 1 to 3 and is beautifully illustrated.

When the boy brings the salamander home, hefinds that the salamander needs many things inits environment that are different from the boy’sroom in order to live. The story explains thedifferent requirements of a salamander and thenfollows through a simple food chain and theneeds of other animals that can be found in theforest. Although the book does not indicatewhether the salamander is released back into itsnatural habitat, the story suggests that thesalamander belongs in the habitat where it wasfound (as the Adopt- A- Pond Programmerecommends).

The simple story and illustrations combine tocreate a great read for grades 1 to 3. It is a storythat will teach children that the needs of animalsmust be respected and we can live in harmonywith each other.

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Life in a Big PuddleBy: Phung Tran

Wetland ecosystems, such as bogs, marshesand swamps provide ideal habitat for a vastnumber of plant and animalspecies. For animal species,wetland areas are used toreproduce, hibernate and foragefor food. Some species relyexclusively on specificenvironmental conditions foundonly in ephemeral wetlands.

Ephemeral wetlands can bedescribed as oversized puddlesthat hold water for a few days ormonths in the spring and summerbut dry by late summer. Thehydrology (flooding and dryingcycle) of ephemeral wetlandsand the organisms that use themmake these wetlands unique.

Spring rain and snowmelt fillshallow depressions in the land inwoodland and field ecosystems.But is every springtime puddleconsidered an ephemeralwetland? The quick answer is“no”. Ephemeral wetlands areclassified by the animal speciesthat use them. These animalspecies are called obligatespecies because they dependexclusively on ephemeralwetlands and cannot usepermanent water bodies for theirlifecycles.

Ephemeral wetlands are classified by thespecies that live in them. However, even if thespecies required for an ephemeral wetlandclassification are not present then the poolmay still be an extremely important part of ahydrological complex and a migration route forspecies of waterfowl, amphibians and reptiles.

Due to the temporary nature of ephemeral

wetlands fish populations are unable to besustained. The absence of fish gives amphibianand crustaceans a survival advantage as fishare a major predator of amphibian spawn andtadpoles. In Ontario’s ephemeral wetlands,obligate species include wood frogs, Blue-

spotted and spottedsalamanders, and fairy shrimp.

Wood frogs are the only frogspecies that depend exclusivelyon ephemeral wetlands fortheir survival. Wood frogsrequire pools for spring-timebreeding. When male andfemale Wood frogs mate, theydeposit egg masses on aquaticvegetation. Around mid to lateApril, eggs hatch and tiny, blacktadpoles begin to feed on theleaf litter and vegetation in thepool. By late July tadpoles havecompletely metamorphosedinto adult Wood froglets. Woodfrogs will return to the same poolin a few years when they aresexually mature.

The Blue-spotted and Spottedsalamanders (Ambystomidsalamanders) are also obligatespecies of ephemeral wetlands.Like Wood frogs, salamanderscome to the pool to breed in theearly spring, usually during thefirst major rain event.Salamanders spend most of theirlives upland from the pool andcome down only to breed.

Salamander eggs and larvae develop quicklyand they leave the pool before it dries.

Fairy shrimp are small crustaceans that spendtheir entire lives in ephemeral wetlands. Theyhave very short lives and manage to matureand lay eggs before the pool dries up. Theeggs are able to tolerate the dry phase of anephemeral wetland by resting in the dry earthuntil the next season when the pool refills withwater. Once the pool is filled with enough

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Volume 12 No. 2

Amphibian Voice is distributed toschools and communitiesparticipating in the Adopt-A-Pond programme. The purposeof this newsletter is to provideinformation on amphibian, turtleand wetland conservation issuesand efforts in Ontario.

Send in your stories, drawings andphotographs to the addressbelow and we will “hoppily”include them in future issues.

Editors:Sarah Ingwersen,Adopt-A-Pond CoordinatorBob Johnson,Curator of Reptiles & Amphibians

Contributors:Phung TranBentley ChristieDonald Barber

Support for the Adopt-A-PondProgramme:Toronto Zoo FoundationCanadian Museum AssociationHuman Resources DevelopmentCanada

Adopt-A-Pond is a non-profit wetlandeducation programme. Costs toproduce this newsletter, and otherresources, are funded by grants andprivate donations.

We welcome support of ourprogramme! Please makecheques payable to “TorontoZoo” and send them to thefollowing address. Thank you!

Adopt-A-PondToronto Zoo

361A Old Finch Ave.Scarborough, ON M1B 5K7

Fax: (416) 392-4979aap@torontozoo.ca

www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond

Continued from Page 7

water, the eggs will hatch and continue the cycle.

There are many reasons why these species can only survive inephemeral pool environments. As mentioned above, there are nofish found in these temporary pools and therefore the animals andtheir eggs have less of a predation stress. Ephemeral wetlands areshallow and warm which is important for hatching amphibian andcrustacean eggs. The water in vernal pools has low to moderatesalinity (amount of salt) and alkalinity (the ability for water toneutralize acid), which is important to animals that have verysensitive skin, such as frogs and salamanders. These animals haveadapted to the temporary nature of ephemeral wetlands bycompleting their life cycle or part of their life cycle before the pooldries. For example, the Wood frog and salamander eggs hatchshortly after fertilization and even in cold water frog tadpoles orsalamander larvae develop quickly and leave the pool before itdries. The fairy shrimp have a very short life and the adults will diewhen the pool dries. Their eggs are able to overwinter and hatchthe following season when the pool is flooded.

Although these obligate species are safe from fish as predators, theephemeral wetland food chain is still complex. Many facultativespecies (animals that use an ephemeral wetland but can surviveelsewhere) come to breed or feed in or near a pool and are veryimportant to the ephemeral wetland community. Facultativespecies of an ephemeral wetland include Spring peepers and otherfrogs, turtles, raccoons, waterfowl, snails and a variety of insects.

Ephemeral wetlands are often part of a system of permanent andtemporary wetlands. Their hydrological significance in terms offlood control and groundwater recharge is extremely important tous, as humans as well as wildlife. Ephemeral wetlands serve aslandscape linkages for a variety of wildlife. They provide a stop overfor migrating waterfowl where they can pair before using the morepermanent wetland to nest. Amphibians also may use these areasas stop-overs on route to other permanent water bodies. Adopt-A-Pond’s Snapping Turtle Study has shown that turtles rely on theseareas for hibernation and spring foraging.

Vernal pools can be foundall over the world andalthough they may look likeoversized puddles, take acloser look, you might justfind some Fairy shrimp, woodfrogs or a salamander ortwo!

Printed on 100% recycledpaper, using vegetable

based ink!

Summer 2002