An Ecological Assessment of Vernal Pools in Rhinebeck, New York

摘要

Vernal pools are a unique ecosystem found in the northeastern United States, typically associated with forests. A distinct suite of species is supported by vernal pools, including several amphibians of special concern in New York. Forested habitat surrounding vernal pools is also important with respect to the biodiversity of vernal pools as it provides non-breeding, foraging, and overwintering habitat for pool-breeding amphibians. However, the small size and ephemeral nature of vernal pools create a challenge in the management and conservation of these habitats. Due to their small size, typically < 0.01 hectares, most vernal pools in New York do not meet state wetland size requirements (5 hectares) and are not regulated at the state or federal level. As a result, some local governments have developed regulations to protect vernal pools that may have fallen through the regulatory cracks. Based on two sets of pool conservation criteria produced by vernal pool ecologists in Maine, I compared two methods of evaluating vernal pools for potential conservation action based on their biological and surrounding landscape characteristics, in the Town of Rhinebeck, New York. Criteria consisted of site-level biological and hydrological characteristics combined with landscape scale variables. The first method, which ranks individual vernal pools based on ecological value, 13 of 39 (33%) of vernal pools surveyed were a higher Tier ranking, meaning a higher quality pool. While, 26 (66%) pools were a lower Tier ranking. The second method, which identifies pools for potential conservation action at the landscape scale, resulted in 30 pools (77%) warranting conservation action. The establishment of an adaptive conservation strategy that utilizes criteria specific to the vernal pools in Rhinebeck allows for localized guidance in determining the ecological value of these significant habitats, and evaluating newly verified pools in the future. With recent implementation of changes to the town code, and hopeful inclusion of the conservation tools and management recommendations generated from this study, the Town of Rhinebeck could be a model community for vernal pool conservation in New York as well as the northeastern United States.