"It has been said that if all the salamanders were suddenly to become extinct, it would have very little effect on the world of man. Such is probably the truth. But one of our national treasures is the wide variety of our wildlife species; and we will not willingly sacrifice even the least of these." (Henry Hill Collins)

A half-frozen, well-studied pool in Chatham, MA - and a plant of wetland fringes: Winterberry

Eastern North America is home to half of the world's salamander species, and is rightly called the biodiversity center for their Order. Salamanders are the only amphibians that keep their tail throughout life, and are the transition stage between the aquatic world and land. They can breathe through gills, lungs or even the skin, but perhaps the most unusual trait of salamanders, and one that interests us from a medical standpoint, is that they can re-grow a lost limb or tail. (Long before the hullabaloo over stem cell research was initiated by priests and politicians, embryologists were investigating many unusual features by transplanting amphibian tissues.)

Although these are significant adaptations for survival, unlike higher vertebrates, salamanders and their eggs must stay moist, and this makes them particularly vulnerable during their breeding cycle. While there exists a 5-foot Japanese species that has lived 50-years in captivity, most of our local salamanders are small (3-6") and short-lived; so yearly breeding success is important.

According to English legend "the salamander is ever in the fire and never consumed" an emblem of constancy… represented in flames. In actuality salamanders cannot endure heat or fire. They lead quiet lives in perpetually moist spots and are increasingly threatened by human activities around their forests and wetland homes. These dryads and naiads of the Greeks are, as in Gray's Elegy: keeping the noiseless tenor of their way, but today, need a voice among humans to protect them and especially to preserve the unique habitats they rely upon for reproduction.

Vernal pools are the breeding retreats for many salamanders and other amphibians; and some species must rely on the clearest springs and fens, which are also uncommon or threatened, to lay their eggs. Vernal ("Spring") pools are depressions that temporarily fill with rainwater, snow-melt or rising water tables, but most dry out in the summer from evaporation or transpiration from plants. Although there are variations in the length of time that these ephemeral and semi-permanent pools and ponds maintain water levels and their delicate animal communities, the common denominator among them is the lack of fish; as well as the presence of some breeding indicator species of arthropods, turtles, and especially certain tree frogs and salamanders.

Students surveying vernal pools on Cape Cod

If salt marshes are the nurseries of the sea, then vernal pools are the nurseries of the forest. Our baptism in vernal pools was facilitated by naturalists on Cape Cod. Over the years, educators like Charlie McKendree and his students have explored and documented (to certify for protection by the state) these small, self-contained worlds near their schools in Brewster, Massachusetts. And if this is how these wetlands really function, then these students might be called "world" authorities.

Because isolated wetlands - those that are not connected to flowing streams - have been the last to be protected by wetland laws, many have disappeared as property owners and developers clear land for homes and agriculture. Since vernal pools are often discrete and temporary, their identification and protection has been "problematic"- as politicians like to say these days (Translation: "We'll leave it for someone else to sort out.").

This makes it necessary for individual citizens to pull on their boots and get out to likely sites to document, with photographs and tape recordings of calls, the residents in these wet spots, to certify that they are truly vernal pools. The most watertight process to certify a pool is by surveying obligate species (Photographs and tape recorded calls of the breeding activity and eggs of wood frogs or an endangered salamander or toad that is an obligate species.). That is: creatures that must rely on vernal pool habitats for reproduction and survival.

Outside the breeding season, more evidence can be presented by surveying facultative species and habitat (Photographs of a dried-out or otherwise fish-free pool; and evidence of dependant salamanders, frogs like spring peepers, and turtles.).

Besides creating a nature trail on school grounds and a wall-sized map in the school library, McKendree engaged students by surveying nearby pools throughout the seasons for possible inhabitants like fairy shrimp; spotted and marbled salamanders; and wood frogs. These obligate species cannot successfully spawn in ponds and streams where their eggs and young will be devoured by fishes.

Surveys were conducted during different seasons to help profile the depressions in the woods and identify plants when dry in summer, ice-covered in winter, and filled with snow-melt in spring; hoping to see some target amphibians, and especially the bizarre and primitive fairy shrimp.

Green frog tadpole Sampling a spring

On one late winter day we discovered a red-backed salamander trudging across the snow. Ironically, this is one of the few salamanders that is not vernal pool-dependent. Although mostly thawed, the pool was not yet filled and primed for spawning activity, but our catch, even though it is a common resident under rotting logs and leaf piles, was a hit with the kids. ("Cool!"…This is way-better than the classroom!") For salamanders, the red-backed is an outstanding parent, and the female wraps herself around the eggs until they hatch. Like the rest of the tribe, they are secretive, and even though they are the most abundant vertebrate in eastern woodlands and might number hundreds per acre, many of us have never stumbled across one on our walks in the woods.

Red-backed salamander

Found from Georgia to Labrador, even the red-backed is threatened locally by the clearing of forests, and of course, the filling of wet areas. These are animals that survive best, not in the manicured lawn, but in an old country church-yard…

Liverworts and Duckweed

Other less obvious threats to salamanders and other amphibian populations include: acid rain, runoff, pollution, drying soils warmed from increased sunlight on cleared forest floors, and even soil compaction from plant removal, and human and vehicular traffic.

We heard the elusive wood frogs barking their nuptials during the earliest warm spring days on Cape Cod, but were not around for the biggest event of the season. The best day of the year for amphibians is often the worst night of the year for people. Torrential spring rains stimulate many salamanders, like the threatened spotted and marbled, to come out of hiding from under logs, rotting leaves and even piles of manure, and march to their vernal pools. Although not on hand for the excitement in April, we received word that salamanders and students loved it.

Both of these "blunt-nosed" or "mole" salamanders have wide geographic ranges, and wander some distance from their pools in the summer. The spotted is large (8") and found from Louisiana to Nova Scotia. The marbled is only half that size and is at the northern edge of its range in Massachusetts, but it appears to be the "smarter" of the two. Uncharacteristically, the female lays her eggs in the fall, and stands guard until a heavy rain fills the pool to give her young a head start the following spring. It works! The youngsters eat the usual fare of worms and invertebrates, but also feed upon the larvae of other salamanders and frogs in the spring, and even bite the limbs and tails of other marbled salamanders. What ogres they must be in their Lilliputian world.

Most salamanders are nocturnal, which offers them some natural protection, but the most threatened species are those that now need to travel a distance from their forest haunts to breeding pools. Today this often involves crossing open ground or roads, so fewer of these sites are still self-contained and isolated worlds. Also, some species are at the edge of their ranges in New England and are already at a disadvantage because of the climate or restricted habitat.

The protection of many vernal pools is dependent upon the preservation of large tracts of public and private forests, and a different spot we were invited to survey is Berry's Hole, hidden on a private "wood lot" high on the moraine overlooking Cape Cod Bay. Situated at the bottom of a deep glacial kettle in Brewster, this shallow pond is not as dependant on rainwater but is wet because of the high water table. Local legend says cranberries were once harvested from its level base. Its slopes are covered with brambles and steep enough to get your heart and lungs pumping on the climb out. (Although we quickly discovered that the toughest part of the visit was keeping up with landowner and writer John Hay; who has been diligent in sounding the alarm about habitat loss for decades; and is also instrumental in preserving land like this on Cape Cod.)

Berry's Hole is tiny and isolated, linked to the whims of the water table, shallow enough to keep fish from surviving, and is the major frog factory for the area. We did not hear the spring peepers John promised, but did collect some eggs which produced green frogs for a garden pond. They are a hardy lot, great wanderers, and ubiquitous in most ponds, lakes and streams. We've picked them up like hitchhikers in the rain at night, often a great distance from water, crossing uplands to invade new territories. All but one eventually moved on too (or were eaten?) leaving behind one big satisfied-looking frog in a small pond.

Berry's Hole should be safe from development, but not necessarily from the effects of growth in the surrounding communities. In this part of Cape Cod, drinking water is taken from the ground, and draw-downs by wells can adversely affect ponds too (And of course there are always septic tanks to worry about).

Salamanders and their cousins have a lot going for them. They are ancient creatures from the Cretaceous and beyond, 100,000,000 years ago. They are at home in many places that are not suitable to most vertebrates, and thrive in moist dwellings from sea level to the summits of the Appalachians. They prey on an abundant supply of small creatures like insects and worms. Some are very common, but so secretive or nocturnal that we (and predators) rarely see them. Many are active in the colder seasons when there is less competition from other animals. And most have lifestyles and breeding schedules that allow them to avoid predators and competitors, and to survive natural stresses like floods and droughts.

However, in a world that we are rapidly changing, many may simply fade away silently as in Thomas Grey's Elegy - written in a country church-yard:

An unsusal white cedar swamp; and maple swamp - West Barnstable, MA

Dave Grant directs Brookdale College's Ocean Institute at Sandy Hook, NJ. and previously contributed articles about Carolina bays and threats to coastal wetlands. He wrote the Audubon Society's NJ version of Saving Wetlands: A Citizens' Guide for Action; and has developed curriculum materials on amphibians for NJDEP.

Nancy Church is with the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, and worked with Cape Cod teachers on various environmental projects as director of education at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History.

A Field Guide to the Animals of Vernal Pools (2000) by Leo Kenney and Matthew Burne www.vernalpool.org

Complete Field Guide to American Wildlife by Henry H. Collins, Harper & Brothers, NYC 1959