Icy bay

We got hit by a snow/ice storm on Sunday.  Very unusual for here--especially since we've already had snow here once this winter.  Ended up getting about 3 inches of snow then a day of freezing rain.  Not much compared to many parts of the country, but shuts everything down around here--seriously, everything.  Most importantly, it clearly shut down the amphibians.  Haven't seen anything at Rainbow Bay, not even the occasional juvenile bullfrog that we seem to get almost every day.  Hard to believe it was so warm the snakes were out just a bit ago!  Not even seeing inverts in the buckets now.    At least it's more water!  Still hoping the bays  may fill on site in February so the winter breeders will have a shot.  Have some research that depends on it so I need rain!

To stay in the wetland or hit the woods???

This lack of wetlands to play in is getting old.  Raining a little tonight and we actually have a winter weather advisory in place for Monday--not typical SC weather.  Anyway, since I knew Bay 100 had some water (see post from 12/1/10) a couple of us went there the other day to see what we kind find.  Neither of us had every explored that bay for amphibians so we weren't sure what would be there.  We ended up finding a decent number of paedomorphic mole salamanders (Ambystoma talpoideum).  Around here mole salamanders breed in the winter and the offspring can follow one of two life history paths.  On one path they develop and metamorphose in the spring, head out to the woods, and then return to the wetland the next year (or later) and breed.  The other option is to stay in the wetland for another year and develop their reproductive characteristics while still looking like a larvae (this is the basic idea of paedomorphosis--when adults retain juvenile characteristics), get a head start on breeding the next year and then metamorphose and leave as one year olds.  This is only an option if the wetland holds water through the summer.  Must be that Bay 100 held water all summer b/c we found a good number of these paedomorphic mole salamanders.  Take a look at the two photos--on top you have a metamorph that developed directly into the terrestrial form last spring and then the paedomorphs below---note they still have gills for their aquatic life.  Nature remains very cool.  Thanks to David Scott for the great photos.

Marbleds heading out, moles trickling in

Thought it would never happen again but it rained!  And warmed up! I think it reached 70 yesterday and was in the mid-60's today, with some nice rain overnight.  Seemed like it was just what the marbled salamanders were waiting for since several hundred of them left Rainbow Bay last night.  Brought 15 large bins of salamanders back to the lab--now they'll be "processed" (measured and photographed) and then we'll release them on the other side of the fence and we won't see them again until next fall.  A lot of the ones leaving today were females which means they've abandoned their nests this year.  Their eggs won't hatch until the bay finally fills, but who knows if that will even happen this winter!  The nests don't fare as well without the females there, but it gets to a point where the females seem to need to cut their losses and go forage and get ready for next year.  As the marbled salamanders were leaving the mole salamanders (Ambystoma talpoideum) were starting to come into the bay.  Just a few, probably about 10 or so came in today.  Too bad there's no water in the bay so they won't be able to breed yet.  Anyway, was great to have some action at the bay---oh and at H-02 wetlands there was a small banded water snake in a bucket, then when I got home a garter snake on my deck.  Guess everything was enjoying the change in weather!