wes_von_papineäu
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HAARETZ (Tel Aviv, Israel) 06 March 08 Don't splash through this puddle (Ofri Ilani )
"Is that all people have to do on Saturday morning? Go see a puddle?" wondered the driver who transported me to the starting point of a Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) tour last Saturday. After we arrived, he was surprised to discover that several other people had opted to enjoy Shabbat at the site. Hundreds of families from the Gush Dan region thronged the site in response to SPNI's call.
This time, nature's threatened treasures are located very close to home - not in a wadi in the Judean desert or a forest in the Galilee, but in the backyard of the Holon Department of Motor Vehicles, near the local country club. There, among discarded construction materials and skeletons of wrecked cars, Holon's "winter pool" houses a variety of amphibians and invertebrates. Some of them are in danger of immediate extinction.
One may fairly assume that many pedestrians pass near these oversized, seasonal puddles all week long without even noticing their existence.
Winter pools are created every year when rainwater collects in low places. They dry out in summer.
Until a few decades ago, similar pools were so common in Israel's coastal plain that few were aware of their ecological significance. But rapid development of the Gush Dan region in recent decades caused most of these winter pools to vanish, along with the many creatures that inhabit them.
There were once more than 1,500 winter pools in a variety of sizes in Israel, mainly located in the coastal plain. Since the creation of the state, more than 95 percent of them have ceased to exist.
That is one of the main reasons that many amphibians which thrived in Israel in the past now appear on the endangered list. One of them is the green toad, which was once ubiquitous in Israeli communities.
In addition to the green toad, a number of other amphibians inhabit the Holon winter pool: the eastern spadefoot toad (Pelobates syriacus), the marsh frog (Rana ridibunada), the European tree frog (Hyla arborea) and the banded newt (Tritturus vittatus).
A variety of tiny crustaceans (the Chirocephalus neumanii and the Evadne tergestina) and insects (midges and water fleas) share the winter pools with the amphibians.
Where do these amphibians go when the pools dry out? Most of them burrow into deeper, moister layers of the earth to wait for winter.
Other creatures, like local Cumacean crabs, have a single-year life cycle: They do not survive the winter, but leave viable eggs in the ground that can survive dry conditions.
As soon as these eggs are moistened by the first rains, a new generation of crabs hatches.
Ecological significance
Liron Goren, a scientist from Tel Aviv University who is studying the ecology of the pools, proved this phenomenon by pouring a bit of water into an aquarium containing a bit of dirt from a puddle. Within a few days, the aquarium was filled with green creatures.
Until less than a year ago, the area in which the Holon winter pool is located was largely buried under construction debris.
But SPNI tour groups raised public awareness of the ecological significance of winter pools, and that prompted the Holon and Tel Aviv municipalities to clear the rubbish from the site.
Now, the winter pool's situation is even better than in the past. But a new threat looms on the horizon: The Israel Lands Administration is planning to build a logistics center at the site. SPNI is demanding that an urban nature park be established instead, which would encompass the winter pool and the surrounding area in which the amphibians search for food.
"There are few remaining natural areas in Tel Aviv," noted SPNI Central Region Director Alon Rothschild.
"This is an area inhabited by rare species like the banded newt, the green toad and the spadefoot toad. It is imperative to create conditions that protect the winter pool, and that is no simple matter, because it also requires protecting areas in which the water drains."
For now, hikers surround the pool, stepping on stinging nettles and leaping over trash.
They stop at a field kitchen, then at another station, where members of SPNI's youth movement tell the story of how a winter pool transformed into a garbage dump was saved to once again provide a home for frogs.
An instructor at yet another station was the only one who mentioned another world that is now extinct. "This entire area was once the site of an Arab village," she said.
"During the War of Independence, our soldiers captured and purged the village, and all the Arabs that lived here escaped to Gaza." It seems one can never know what surprises lurk behind the Department of Motor Vehicles.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/960861.html
"Is that all people have to do on Saturday morning? Go see a puddle?" wondered the driver who transported me to the starting point of a Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) tour last Saturday. After we arrived, he was surprised to discover that several other people had opted to enjoy Shabbat at the site. Hundreds of families from the Gush Dan region thronged the site in response to SPNI's call.
This time, nature's threatened treasures are located very close to home - not in a wadi in the Judean desert or a forest in the Galilee, but in the backyard of the Holon Department of Motor Vehicles, near the local country club. There, among discarded construction materials and skeletons of wrecked cars, Holon's "winter pool" houses a variety of amphibians and invertebrates. Some of them are in danger of immediate extinction.
One may fairly assume that many pedestrians pass near these oversized, seasonal puddles all week long without even noticing their existence.
Winter pools are created every year when rainwater collects in low places. They dry out in summer.
Until a few decades ago, similar pools were so common in Israel's coastal plain that few were aware of their ecological significance. But rapid development of the Gush Dan region in recent decades caused most of these winter pools to vanish, along with the many creatures that inhabit them.
There were once more than 1,500 winter pools in a variety of sizes in Israel, mainly located in the coastal plain. Since the creation of the state, more than 95 percent of them have ceased to exist.
That is one of the main reasons that many amphibians which thrived in Israel in the past now appear on the endangered list. One of them is the green toad, which was once ubiquitous in Israeli communities.
In addition to the green toad, a number of other amphibians inhabit the Holon winter pool: the eastern spadefoot toad (Pelobates syriacus), the marsh frog (Rana ridibunada), the European tree frog (Hyla arborea) and the banded newt (Tritturus vittatus).
A variety of tiny crustaceans (the Chirocephalus neumanii and the Evadne tergestina) and insects (midges and water fleas) share the winter pools with the amphibians.
Where do these amphibians go when the pools dry out? Most of them burrow into deeper, moister layers of the earth to wait for winter.
Other creatures, like local Cumacean crabs, have a single-year life cycle: They do not survive the winter, but leave viable eggs in the ground that can survive dry conditions.
As soon as these eggs are moistened by the first rains, a new generation of crabs hatches.
Ecological significance
Liron Goren, a scientist from Tel Aviv University who is studying the ecology of the pools, proved this phenomenon by pouring a bit of water into an aquarium containing a bit of dirt from a puddle. Within a few days, the aquarium was filled with green creatures.
Until less than a year ago, the area in which the Holon winter pool is located was largely buried under construction debris.
But SPNI tour groups raised public awareness of the ecological significance of winter pools, and that prompted the Holon and Tel Aviv municipalities to clear the rubbish from the site.
Now, the winter pool's situation is even better than in the past. But a new threat looms on the horizon: The Israel Lands Administration is planning to build a logistics center at the site. SPNI is demanding that an urban nature park be established instead, which would encompass the winter pool and the surrounding area in which the amphibians search for food.
"There are few remaining natural areas in Tel Aviv," noted SPNI Central Region Director Alon Rothschild.
"This is an area inhabited by rare species like the banded newt, the green toad and the spadefoot toad. It is imperative to create conditions that protect the winter pool, and that is no simple matter, because it also requires protecting areas in which the water drains."
For now, hikers surround the pool, stepping on stinging nettles and leaping over trash.
They stop at a field kitchen, then at another station, where members of SPNI's youth movement tell the story of how a winter pool transformed into a garbage dump was saved to once again provide a home for frogs.
An instructor at yet another station was the only one who mentioned another world that is now extinct. "This entire area was once the site of an Arab village," she said.
"During the War of Independence, our soldiers captured and purged the village, and all the Arabs that lived here escaped to Gaza." It seems one can never know what surprises lurk behind the Department of Motor Vehicles.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/960861.html