On January 24, 2017, our group, Salamander Savers, took a trip to the capitol of Virginia. We talked to three delegates and a senator about the activities that Salamander Savers performs. We also asked them about how to advocate for a state salamander, and if it was possible to remove salamanders from the DGIF bait list. We got a lot of useful information from the people that we talked to, and now we know how to start advocating for a state salamander. Our trip to the capitol was informative and enjoyable. We got to tour the the capitol, listen to the General Assembly while it was in session, converse with our state representatives, and learn how we can make the Shenandoah Salamander the state salamander of Virginia.
by Gabriel Kim
On January 24, 2017, our group, Salamander Savers, took a trip to the capitol of Virginia. We talked to three delegates and a senator about the activities that Salamander Savers performs. We also asked them about how to advocate for a state salamander, and if it was possible to remove salamanders from the DGIF bait list. We got a lot of useful information from the people that we talked to, and now we know how to start advocating for a state salamander. Our trip to the capitol was informative and enjoyable. We got to tour the the capitol, listen to the General Assembly while it was in session, converse with our state representatives, and learn how we can make the Shenandoah Salamander the state salamander of Virginia.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF SALAMANDERS: By G. C. Kim
Currently, fishing with salamanders is legal in Iowa, Kansas, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and many other states throughout the U.S. Although salamanders are used widely as bait, they should be taken off of the bait list because they are beneficial to the environment. Salamanders are a keystone species, which means that the environment is dependent on their well-being. Therefore, by using salamanders as bait, fishermen are harming the environment, as well as salamanders. Another reason why salamanders are so beneficial to the environment is because they help reduce the effects of global warming. Lastly, fishermen should not use salamanders as bait because by fishing with them they could potentially be spreading Chytrid, a fungal disease that has decimated the world's amphibian populations. Salamanders should be removed from the bait list because of these three reasons. Firstly, salamanders should be removed from the bait list because they are a keystone species. A keystone species is an abundant species that helps maintain the health of the environment. According to researchers from the University of Missouri, the average population of salamanders in wooded areas of the Missouri Ozarks is two to four times higher than expected. On the east coast it is ten times higher than expected (Sossamon 1). While salamanders are abundant, they face numerous threats. Currently, they face habitat destruction, a deadly disease, water pollution, and fishermen. If these threats are not regulated, then this keystone species may die off. The Wandering Herpetologist, an organization that specializes in studying amphibians, made a prediction about what would happen if salamanders start to die off. “...salamanders (and other amphibians) are very important to the health of forests. Since they make up such a large biomass of an area as they experience more and more population declines so do other species that rely on them” (Viernum 3). This means that if salamanders start to die, the environment will start to die as well. This also implies that by using salamanders as bait fishermen are crippling other animals that rely on salamanders, which in turn damages the environment. While the environment is dependent on the well-being of salamanders, these creatures actually play an important role in the global carbon cycle. This important role was discussed by the California Academy of Science. Researchers from northern California created two isolated environments and filled one of the enclosures with Ensatina, a type of salamander. Since salamanders prey on insects that break down leaf litter into carbon, the researchers expected to find less amounts of carbon in the enclosure with the Ensatina than the one without. Over a period of two seasons, the researchers found that their assumption was correct. The enclosure that had Ensatina had lower carbon levels than the enclosure that did not have Ensatina (Michelson 2). In their article explaining their experiment, the researchers attempted to calculate how much carbon the Ensatina prevented from being released into the atmosphere. They found that “...across the range of Ensatina this would equate to 72.3 metric tons of C retained by this one species in a single season, preventing it from entering the atmosphere” (Best and Welsh 17). Salamanders are not just essential to the environment, but they are also important to the global carbon cycle as well. On top of being a keystone species, these creatures also help mitigate global warming. By using them as bait, fishermen are not only hurting the environment but increasing the effects of global warming. The final reason why salamanders shouldn't be used as bait is because that when anglers fish with them, they have the risk of spreading Chytrid. According to Amphibiaweb, a website that provides a vast storage of knowledge on amphibians, Chytrid is a deadly fungal disease that only affects amphibians. This deadly disease has already eradicated a large portion of the world's amphibian population (Yap and Koo 1-2). Amphibian Ark, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for Chytrid, said as follows: “...the most common way that Bd zoospores spread from place to place are in water, moist or wet materials (including soil or equipment) or on the skin of infected amphibians” (Amphibian Ark 2). Since Chytrid spreads through the skin of contaminated amphibians, if a fisherman used an infected salamander as bait, he would be spreading Chytrid. Upon being spread, Chytrid would steadily wipe out all salamanders in the area, which would cause the surrounding environment to deteriorate in health. Salamanders are important to the health of the environment. The environment depends on them to mitigate global warming. These facts are why salamanders should be taken off of all bait lists. In addition to that, by outlawing salamanders as bait, the chances of Chytrid spreading would be considerably reduced. If salamanders are continued to be used as bait, these creatures will eventually disappear. Then the environment will suffer, and the effects of global warming will escalate. The first step to helping these creatures is to stop using them as bait. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Best, Michael, and Hartwell Welsh. “The trophic role of a forest salamander: impacts on invertebrates, leaf litter retention, and the humification process.” Ecological Society of America, 10 February 2014, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/ES13-00302.1/full Accessed 14 Dec. 2016. “Chytrid Fungus.” Amphibian Ark, n.d., http://www.amphibianark.org/the-crisis/chytrid-fungus/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2016. Michelson, Molly. “Salmanders' Important Role.” California Academy of Science, 16 April 2014, http://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/salamanders-important-role. Accessed 1 Dec. 2016. Sossamon, Jeff. “Salamanders Are a More Abundant Food Source in Forest Ecosystems Than Previously Thought.” University of Missouri, 18 November 2014, http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2014/1118-salamanders-are-a-more-abundant-food- source-in-forest-ecosystems-than-previously-thought/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2016. Viernum, Sara. “The Importance of Amphibians.” The Wandering Herpetologist, 14 May 2012, http://www.wanderingherpetologist.com/importance-of-amphibians/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2016. Yap, Tiffany, and Michelle Koo. “Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans: Deadly fungal threat to salamanders.” Amphibiaweb, July 31 2015, http://amphibiaweb.org/chytrid/Bsal.html. Accessed 1 Dec. 2016. This weekend Salamander Savers 4-H Club talked to over 300 people about salamanders. The kids collected 91 signatures to address a law that they felt should be changed, specifically pertaining to using salamanders as bait. The kids advocated that using salamanders could actually be hurting the environment, as many of our local salamanders could carry chytrid (the disease that wiped out the amphibian populations in South America.) Removing them from an environment and introducing them into another (if they get off the hook, or are ingested by a fish that is not caught-) could spread the disease further. Salamanders are also notoriously loyal to their vernal pools. Taking them during the breeding season could potentially wipe out a species, considering that about 1-2% of the eggs laid actually make it to reproductive maturity. The kids also objected to the section of law that pertains to shooting bullfrogs. The DGIF website states : "Bullfrogs may also be taken by gigging or bow and arrow and from private waters by firearms no larger than .22 caliber rimfire." The children thought it was unnecessary to discharge a firearm to kill a bullfrog and it seemed cruel. I am proud of the kids because they gave a voice to animals who cannot speak for themselves.
After many meetings and hours spent learning about clams, the day for the clam rescue finally arrived. Lake Royal did not have the number of clams that Woodglen Lake did, but we were still able to count and save at least 200 clams! We happily measure and weighed at least 100 clams ourselves and then had the pleasure of throwing them into our own lake. It was truly a moment of joy. Only a short year ago we walked the shores of Woodglen Lake knowing that there was nothing we could do to help the mussel that had been lost during the lowering of the water. It is nice to know that in a very small way we played a part of helping our local eco system. written by Gabriel Kim
Why are salamanders important? Salamanders perform various jobs that are beneficial to humankind. These jobs include feasting upon insects that we call pests, and maintaining the health of forests all over the world. Perhaps the most important role that salamanders play in the world is that they help prevent global warming. The simplest job that salamanders perform for humankind is ingesting insects. By feasting upon various insects salamanders help limit diseases that certain insects spread. If salamanders didn't exist, then the world would be overrun by bugs, and humankind would be suffering from agonizing bug bites and deadly diseases. By ingesting insects salamanders also maintain the delicate balance of their habitat. If there were no salamanders to eat all the insects then the salamanders' habitat would wither away. However, the most important thing that salamanders accomplish by devouring insects is that they slow down the release of carbon into the world. You see, when the insects eat the decaying leaf litter on the forest floor they release carbon, but by preying on insects salamanders limit the amount of carbon that is released. Why is the release of carbon important? It is important because if there is too much carbon, nature doesn't have time to disperse the carbon into the world. This is dangerous because too much carbon in the world leads to erratic changes in the current environment. These changes have been labeled as global warming. Although salamanders cannot stop global warming, they can hinder it's progress, and is this is what makes salamanders so valuable. Salamanders are remarkable creatures that are worth saving. They perform necessary jobs that are beneficial to us and the world, and never once have they asked for anything in return for completing these tasks. However, now the salamanders are suffering greatly for their kindness towards humanity. We releases so much poisonous chemicals into our streams and rivers that the salamanders are now dying from it. These creatures, who help limit global warming, a problem we caused are dying. It's time for us to help them as they have helped us. SOURCE: http://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/salamanders-important-role The boys and I attended Lake Royal's fish shock in hopes that Woodglen Lake may be the recipient of some of the fish. No luck. Our lake does not have the eco system to support large fish yet, so DGIF will restock fish into the lake some time this year. But we did meet some pretty cool fish up close and Sammy got to 'release' some fish back into Lake Royal.
Thank you to everyone who helped make Salamander Day a success in our corner of the world. We had over 26 visitors that came through and learned about salamanders! The boys worked for weeks gathering information, designing and printing shirts, making games and posters. They really enjoyed spending some time on Friday with our 'special guest' (the spotted salamander) that they nick-named Rodrigo. A special thanks goes out to Rachael at Long Branch Nature Center for loaning us 'Rodrigo' for the event. We highlighted the salamanders of Woodglen Lake, but there are so many more of these amazing amphibians throughout Virginia. If you are local and craving more salamanders visit the new exhibit Jewels of Appalachia at the National Zoo. To learn more about salamander conservation visit: http://www.fcsal.org/
We had to brave the cold yesterday to do our stream monitoring, but it was worth it. The boys and I were curious to see how the snow may have affected the macro invertebrates in the stream. We thought that we'd have a hard time finding anything in the stream, but we counted and sorted 437 tiny animals smaller than your fingernail! It was a race against the clock because the net started to freeze after about thirty minutes. Which meant we had to keep everything wet with a steady stream of water so things didn't die or freeze to the net. We had a hard time convincing some of the common net spinners to 'let it go" and return to the stream. Right now, the most common thing in our stream is the net spinner, which we were thrilled to see since only a few months ago we could harldy find any. This time we found a whopping 232 net spinners! The down side is that net spinners are tolerant of imparement, which means they can live in polluted streams. Overall we had a successful event, despite the freezing temperatures and I am thrilled to report that our stream got a 5 (out of 12 possible points!) In the past the highest score that our stream ever received was a 3, so things are looking up. We are not in the clear yet though because a 5 is still considered unacceptable ecologically. IF IT'S GETTING BETTER, WHY IS IT NOT ENOUGH? You might be wondering what's wrong with the stream? In terms of the macro invertebrates we are mainly seeing two different kinds, Net spinners and Midges. Unfortunately both of these little critters don't mind living in sub par conditions. They can tolerate a certain amount of chemicals and low levels of oxygen. Basically, they don't need much to survive. In fact, EVERYTHING we found this time was tolerant of imparement. So that tells us, the stream is not ready to support the animals that need better conditions- YET. ANY GOOD NEWS? YES!!! Back in July when we did our stream monitoring, we spent 6 hours, cast 4 nets, and found only 157 organisms. In July, we only found 3 net spinners and no midges. This time we cast only one net, and found a whopping 437 critters! WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP? If you want to get your hands dirty, help us do our counts. We usually try to post the events in the spring and summer on the community message boards. Or get certified and monitor the other side of the stream. http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/nvswcd/monitoring.htm If you'd rather help from home, just make small changes around your yard:
The boys and I have adopted the South Branch of Sideburn Run stream. This means that every three months we go out to the stream and try to collect at least 200 benthic (bottom dwelling) macro invertebrates. We count the critters and then report the numbers back to the county to help monitor the health of our stream. Today's stream monitoring was a huge success. We collected 251 specimens in only one net! We've never done that before. How does it work? We put in a net and do a little stream dance to catch the critters. Then we have the arduous task of sorting the little guys. Once they are sorted, then we count them and then carefully return everyone back to where we found them. Normally it takes several hours but today we made it in just two short hours! The good news is that the critters are still in the stream. Three months ago it took us four nets and six hours to make it to 200- only to find out that many of the animals we were seeing weren't supposed to be in the stream. Many of the macroinvertebrates that we had seen a few months before were missing or their numbers were low. This time was different the little guys are back. Unfortunately, the critters that we saw indicate that the stream is in very poor health. This shouldn't come as a surprise though, since the lake has just been dredged. Hopefully we'll start to see some improvements this spring or summer. Today's crew was awesome, please let us know if you ever want to join us for one of our monitoring events.
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