wes_von_papineäu
Our Roving Correspondent
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NEW YORK TIMES (New York) 25 May 08 Seeing and Counting Salamanders Close-Up (Barbara Hall)
The Hanson family, from a relatively urban neighborhood in New London, strode recently into a woodland tract in the Mashantucket Land Trust here to prowl for salamanders.
Along with 20 other people on the nature trail, Kendrik Hanson, his wife, Ashley, and their two young sons dodged emerald bursts of skunk cabbage and splays of spring’s fiddlehead ferns with their unmistakable scrolled heads. Scaling portions of an old stone wall, now and then dunking from moss bed into mud, the Hansons and others upturned rocks, in search of at least one member of Connecticut’s dozen native salamander species.
They were on a mission to tally salamanders as participants in one of a series of “citizen science” outings organized by the Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration’s Amphibian Monitoring Project.
The aquarium is helping in an international bid to save frogs and amphibians by identifying and counting species amid scientists’ concerns that some of them have become vulnerable in recent years.
As spring progresses, the aquarium’s amphibian monitors will conduct weekly searches starting 30 minutes after sunset or later, at a chosen wetlands site. The monitoring program will eventually widen to include Connecticut’s eight species of frogs and two toad species.
By the end of the hunt, Keaton Hanson, 10, had caught a four-toed salamander and his brother, Kyler, 8, had a red back specimen to show.
“It’s a fun and worthy exercise for my family to get involved in a big science project at the local level,” Mr. Hanson said. “My father was a biologist. I’ve had a lifelong interest in it. I want to give my kids that exposure.”
Before the hunt, MaryEllen Mateleska, an educator for the aquarium, told the volunteers that there are 5,500 frog and amphibian species worldwide.
Of these, 1,500 species are reportedly in decline, and 34 species have become extinct. Of the 280 amphibian species in the United States, 38 are on the Endangered Species Act’s official list.
Biologists say the causes for the United States decline include habitat loss (the prevalent cause for species endangerment in Connecticut, Ms. Mateleska said) pollutants, invasive species and parasites and diseases. FrogwatchUSA, established by the National Wildlife Federation of Reston, Va., and the United States Geological Survey, created this rendition of citizen science, in which members of the public are asked to gather localized field data, like which species are discovered where and the number of animals found at each location.
While they are aiding science, volunteers are introduced to homespun projects to help preserve a species. In the aquarium’s case, for example, Ms. Mateleska provided instructions for creating “Toad Abodes” — habitats that could be made of terra cotta pots or rock piles.
It was frog finding that dominated Ms. Mateleska’s training session. There are, she said, two strategies involved. The first is “kick-flip,” to bring a specimen to light, “careful flip, careful return and watchful eye.” The second strategy is to find and identify frogs by their songs: “recording the ribbit,” in FrogwatchUSA parlance. The songs can vary from the sweet jingle from a colony of tiny spring peepers to the low groans of American bullfrogs, which inhabit streams, fresh ponds and rivers throughout Connecticut.
After sunset is the optimal time to hear the songs, according to FrogwatchUSA. The group asks that each outing report include conditions like air temperature, wind speed, current precipitation and a weather history of the site.
Monitors will also record the time they begin listening for the songs, the time they stop listening, different species heard and — by using a specialized device — the intensity of each species’ sounds. Their findings will then go to FrogwatchUSA.
After searching for salamanders, Kyler said: “I haven’t learned much about salamanders in school.”
Keaton said he found unearthing the four-toed salamander exciting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/25frogsct.html?ref=nyregionspecial2
The Hanson family, from a relatively urban neighborhood in New London, strode recently into a woodland tract in the Mashantucket Land Trust here to prowl for salamanders.
Along with 20 other people on the nature trail, Kendrik Hanson, his wife, Ashley, and their two young sons dodged emerald bursts of skunk cabbage and splays of spring’s fiddlehead ferns with their unmistakable scrolled heads. Scaling portions of an old stone wall, now and then dunking from moss bed into mud, the Hansons and others upturned rocks, in search of at least one member of Connecticut’s dozen native salamander species.
They were on a mission to tally salamanders as participants in one of a series of “citizen science” outings organized by the Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration’s Amphibian Monitoring Project.
The aquarium is helping in an international bid to save frogs and amphibians by identifying and counting species amid scientists’ concerns that some of them have become vulnerable in recent years.
As spring progresses, the aquarium’s amphibian monitors will conduct weekly searches starting 30 minutes after sunset or later, at a chosen wetlands site. The monitoring program will eventually widen to include Connecticut’s eight species of frogs and two toad species.
By the end of the hunt, Keaton Hanson, 10, had caught a four-toed salamander and his brother, Kyler, 8, had a red back specimen to show.
“It’s a fun and worthy exercise for my family to get involved in a big science project at the local level,” Mr. Hanson said. “My father was a biologist. I’ve had a lifelong interest in it. I want to give my kids that exposure.”
Before the hunt, MaryEllen Mateleska, an educator for the aquarium, told the volunteers that there are 5,500 frog and amphibian species worldwide.
Of these, 1,500 species are reportedly in decline, and 34 species have become extinct. Of the 280 amphibian species in the United States, 38 are on the Endangered Species Act’s official list.
Biologists say the causes for the United States decline include habitat loss (the prevalent cause for species endangerment in Connecticut, Ms. Mateleska said) pollutants, invasive species and parasites and diseases. FrogwatchUSA, established by the National Wildlife Federation of Reston, Va., and the United States Geological Survey, created this rendition of citizen science, in which members of the public are asked to gather localized field data, like which species are discovered where and the number of animals found at each location.
While they are aiding science, volunteers are introduced to homespun projects to help preserve a species. In the aquarium’s case, for example, Ms. Mateleska provided instructions for creating “Toad Abodes” — habitats that could be made of terra cotta pots or rock piles.
It was frog finding that dominated Ms. Mateleska’s training session. There are, she said, two strategies involved. The first is “kick-flip,” to bring a specimen to light, “careful flip, careful return and watchful eye.” The second strategy is to find and identify frogs by their songs: “recording the ribbit,” in FrogwatchUSA parlance. The songs can vary from the sweet jingle from a colony of tiny spring peepers to the low groans of American bullfrogs, which inhabit streams, fresh ponds and rivers throughout Connecticut.
After sunset is the optimal time to hear the songs, according to FrogwatchUSA. The group asks that each outing report include conditions like air temperature, wind speed, current precipitation and a weather history of the site.
Monitors will also record the time they begin listening for the songs, the time they stop listening, different species heard and — by using a specialized device — the intensity of each species’ sounds. Their findings will then go to FrogwatchUSA.
After searching for salamanders, Kyler said: “I haven’t learned much about salamanders in school.”
Keaton said he found unearthing the four-toed salamander exciting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/25frogsct.html?ref=nyregionspecial2