[Ctleps-l] Steep Rock Today

[Anthony Zemba]

Hi Charlie
I'm thinking that the amphibians fare ok in that scenario too as water temperatures heat and cool slower than air temperatures, and most vernal pool species have adapted to very cold water temperatures.  Some emerge so early in the later winter/early spring that there may still be ice on some of the vernal pools, and one can often find these species active under the ice cover.  I welcome additional comments/affirmations/dissenting options from the herpetologists out there, but I guess we'd have to shift over to another forum to further herpetofauna discussions....
Interesting thread here guys!
Happy Spring,
-AZ

Anthony Zemba, CHMM
Certified Ecologist / Soil Scientist
Azemba at fhiplan.com / (860) 247-7200 ext. 307

FHI | Fitzgerald & Halliday, Inc.
Innovative Planning, Better Communities
416 Asylum Street | Hartford, CT 06103
CT * NY * NJ | www.fhiplan.com

-----Original Message-----
From: ctleps-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:ctleps-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of CharlieBrownCB5 .
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 10:37 PM
To: Peary Stafford <pearydstafford at gmail.com>
Cc: Lep List <CTLEPS-L at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Ctleps-l] Steep Rock Today

Very interesting observation Peary!  Especially in the context of global climate change.  My thoughts are that plants and insects tend to be more thermally regulated, and therefore are more capable of staying relatively in sync with one another. Of course, there are always exceptions.  However birds for example, rely solely on length of day for their migratory and breeding behavior, which does not necessarily coincide with daily temperature, and so can easily fall out of sync with plant and insect food sources. Warm/early springs probably don't have a great impact on insects, but do have the potential to seriously impact birds, especially migratory birds.
I also found myself worrying this spring for the amphibians that emerged to lay their eggs during the warm snap, only to have a week of snowfall and freezing temperatures. I would be interested to know how they have fared.
-Charlie

On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 10:06 PM, Peary Stafford <pearydstafford at gmail.com<mailto:pearydstafford at gmail.com>> wrote:
> So here's my contribution to the firsts of today:
>      Scouting for a wildflower walk we are supposed to host on the 7th
> of May, I found a bunch of flowers we were hoping to see then in bud
> or in bloom today. (Trailing Arbutus, Bloodroot, Round-leaved Violet,
> Round-lobed Hepatica, Dentaria).  Made me concerned that we were well
> ahead plant-wise but on schedule lep-wise which would create problems
> for butterflies and their hosts.
>      I ran into our Land Steward and we talked about the question; he
> suggested that if species evolved together they would react similarly
> to external stimuli like temperature and length of day.  If so, we
> needn't worry about a lack of synchronicity between the insect and its host plants.
>      Unconvinced, I started back to the truck and what pops up but a
> West Virginia White, lover of the nearly-blooming Dentaria. (April 26
> is the first I've had it here before at Steep Rock, but the earliest
> date in the state seems to be APRIL 13, 2002 according to an old list
> I have.)  Seems my friend was right about plants and animals being in tune with each other!
>    One shot attached.
> Peary
> PS. I'd love to hear others' thoughts on whether warm or cold springs
> or summers can get things out of synch between the plants and animals.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ctleps-l mailing list
> Ctleps-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Ctleps-l at mailman.yale.edu>
> http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/ctleps-l
>
_______________________________________________
Ctleps-l mailing list
Ctleps-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Ctleps-l at mailman.yale.edu>
http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/ctleps-l

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/ctleps-l/attachments/20160414/f8ed682c/attachment-0001.html