The post-winter rains have come, temperatures are rising, and salamanders are undertaking their once-a-year migrations to ...

But the 20 visitors gathered on the lower slopes of Sonoma Mountain on an overcast morning in early March understood they were special: vernal pools—vital features of the California landscape that ...

Puddle or vernal pool? Take a closer look to find out. Vernal pools, Michigan’s fantastical temporary wetlands, are teeming with life. They’ve earned the nickname, “powerhouse puddles” from the state ...

March, thousands of salamanders emerged from their underground burrows across Central New York. They crawled over the cold, ...

On a spring hike in the woods, one sure way to amaze a child (or a grownup!) is to discover a red eft along the trail. Glowing red-orange in the leaf litter, these tiny creatures light up the forest ...

One of my favorite memories was when we first moved to Maine, over 30 years ago, and discovered vernal pools (our house was surrounded by them). Vernal pools are seasonal forested wetlands that fill ...

SOUTHWICK — Vernal pools serve as important incubators for the reproduction of a variety of amphibians and because this is the time of year they spring to life, Conservation Commission Coordinator ...

In mid/late April to May in the Northern Lower Michigan Peninsula, vernal pools begin to wake, filling the woods with a quack like call from wood frogs searching for a mate. Fairy shrimp, daphnia, ...

Wood frogs are highly dependent on environmental conditions to determine whether they are active. After fattening up during ...

BRIDPORT — On the hunt for a set of GPS coordinates, biologists from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies ambled up an untrailed slope of Addison County’s Snake Mountain in late April. After climbing ...

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2022. With spring underway, it’s time to take a look at an ecosystem that only lasts for a short period of time called a vernal pool. These bodies ...

SAN DIEGO — On the west end of San Diego Miramar College campus is a small Vernal pool preserve. "These are one of the Vernal pools and over here we have a funky little snail. Wow that's cool, and ...