At long last...

Temperatures in the 80s on Monday finally vanquished this seemingly never-ending winter, liberating almost all of the pools of ice. And despite the failure of forecasted thunderstorms to materilize, the amphibians responded throughout Heiberg Forest. After visiting each of the pools on Tuesday 12 April, I'm very pleased to report that wood frogs were observed lurking in the majority of Hexagon pools, and they have deposited egg masses in seven of them. No spotted salamander egg masses have yet been observed, but I think they are forthcoming; nocturnal visits revealed their presence in two of the Hexagon pools, as well as a few pools with spermatophores.

In the Microarray, wood frogs and spermatophores were observed in a few pools in both the field and forest, and a single wood frog egg mass in Pool #17 in the field. But Pool #30 seems to be the place to be: five wood frog and four spotted salamnder egg masses. This pool also was popular with breeding toads shortly after it was constructed last spring. It is large (5 m diameter), shallow (25 cm deep), and did NOT receive an organic topsoil layer. I wonder whether these factors actually matter, or whether Pool #30 is simply the fashionable place to be? Given that calling is still ongoing amidst drenching rains last night and today, and oviposition in pre-existing pools as of yesterday was far less than observed last year, my hunch is that there are many more egg masses to be distributed. Stay tuned....

-Jim Arrigoni, SUNY-ESF

Microarray Pool 30 on 12 April 2011