Ohio's Vernal Pools, presentation on Feb 21, 2009

1. State of Ohio’s Vernal Pools
Mick Micacchion
Ohio EPA
Wetland Ecology Group

2. Vernal Pools
• Forested and shrub
depressions in a forested
landscape
• Isolated hydrology –
primarily surface and
ground water
• Seasonal hydrology –
ephemeral – at least late
winter (Feb/March) to early
summer (June/July)
• Free of predatory fish
• Provide important
amphibian breeding habitat

3. Amphibian Habitat Needs
Seasonal hydrology - March-June
•
Fish-free – bass, sunfish, pike, bullheads
•
Leaf litter/ woody debris
•
Microtopographic features
•
Woodlands – especially important within
•
200m radius
Other breeding pools nearby
•

4. Amphibian Monitoring Sites

5. Spring peeper,
Pseudacris crucifer

6. Western chorus frog,
Pseudacris triseriata

7. Northern leopard frog,
Rana pipiens

8. Gray treefrog,
Hyla versicolor

9. Wood frog,
Rana sylvatica

10. Smallmouth salamander,
Ambystoma texanum

11. Spotted salamander,
Ambystoma maculatum

12. Tiger salamander,
Ambystoma tigrinum

13. Marbled salamander,
Ambystoma opacum

14. Jefferson salamander,
Ambystoma jeffersonianum

15. Ambystomatid hybrid

16. Photo by Mike Graziano
Four-toed salamander
and eggs

17. Eastern red-spotted newt
Notophthalmus viridescens

18. Amphibian Species Sensitivity
Salamanders: Frogs and Toads:
Smallmouth 4 Green frog 1
Streamside 5 American bullfrog 2
Unisexual hybrids 5 American toad 2
Jefferson 6 Northern spring peeper 3
Eastern newt 6 Fowler’s toad 4
Spotted 8 Western chorus frog 4
Marbled 8 Northern leopard frog 4
Tiger 9 Cope’s & Gray treefrogs 4
Four-toed 10 Mountain chorus frog 5
Blue-spotted 10 Northern cricket frog 7
Wood frog 7
Pickerel frog 7
Eastern spadefoot 10

19. Amphibian Index of Biotic Integrity
Metrics
• Amphibian Quality
Assessment Index
(AQAI)
• Number of species of
pond breeding
salamanders
• Relative abundance of
sensitive species
• Relative abundance of
tolerant species
• Presence of spotted
salamanders or wood
frogs
• 10pts.each (0, 3, 7, 10),
50 pts. total

20. Urban Vernal Pools – Central Ohio
• Randomly selected 200 urban wetlands – NWI and OWI
(out of 649)
– Tree or shrub dominated
– Isolated depressions - SW and GW fed
– Inundation thru amphibian breeding season
– No predatory fish
• Monitored 14 wetlands (vernal pools) for amphibians
14/200 = only 7% of central Ohio wetlands provided
amphibian community breeding habitat
– 3 – Poor quality – 3/200 = 1.5%
– 9 – Fair quality – 9/200 = 4.5%
– 2 – Good quality – 2/200 = 1%
– 0 – Excellent quality

21. Urban Vernal Pool

22. Mitigation Bank Study
Monitored 33 subareas at 12 wetland
mitigation banks
Total = 999.2 acres (404.4 hectares)
Amphibian data collected with deployment
of 1040 funnel traps (24,960 trap hours)

24. Species Composition of Wetland
Mitigation Banks
• Abundant
– Green frog. Rana clamitans
38% • Absent or extremely rare
– Toads, Bufo sp. 22% – All Ambystomatid
– Leopard frog, R. pipiens salamander species <1%
19% – Red-spotted newt,
– Bullfrog, R. catesbeiana Notophthalmus viridescens
12% – Spotted salamander,
– Spring peeper, Pseudacris Ambystoma maculatum
crucifer 5% – Wood frog, R. sylvatica

25. Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor

26. Limitations of Wetland Mitigation
Projects to Amphibian Usage
• Landscape placement - narrow or no buffers and
intensive surrounding land uses
• Presence of predatory fish – stream hydrology
• Permanent vs. seasonal hydrology
• Steep slopes and lack of vegetation – vegetation present
is emergent class
• Large sizes minimizing edge habitats

30. Limitations on Amphibian
Communities with Urban Vernal Pools
• Intensive
surrounding land
uses
• Lack of buffers
• Isolation from other
patches of habitat

31. Urban Vernal Pools–
Why they are development targets
• Often are present as wetlands in landscapes
that are otherwise dominated by uplands
• Generally small
• Often are dry much of the year and may not
be recognized as wetlands at those times
• Surrounding development has lowered their
quality

32. State of Vernal Pool
Habitat in Ohio

33. Thank You!!!