Ecology – Long Driveway

Unsound data

A water depth data logger has been running unattended at a vernal pool (MLS619) at Snake Mountain in Bridport since April 10. The water was a meter deep when I waded out then to change the batteries and swap the microSD card. I have not been in a hurry to do the swap again assuming that the longer I wait the less wet I will get doing it. But I didn’t know how long the batteries would power the logger. The previous record was 11+ weeks, although a similar logger has been running in my office for more than a year on the same batteries. That one only saves data when certain conditions are met but it has been waking up every 30 minutes and sensing its environment for almost 13 months. I decided 16 weeks would make a good record for field deployment at MLS619 and was pleased to find that data had been written to the microSD card once every 30 minutes during those 3.7 months.

There was a lot more water in vernal pool MLS619 on July 30 than I expected. The level was only 11 cm lower than it was on April 10 when I last serviced the logger. I was even more surprised to learn that the water temperature was only 2.5 °C warmer than it was in April. Photo by Ned.

Blueberry and hemlock

Some “then and now” sliders in the last post about Glacier Bay suggested that blueberry and hemlock were spreading in the understory at two of the older study sites we visited last month. Below I am trying out another method of displaying these pairs of old (1990 or 1995) and new (last month) photos. Some new photo pairs from York Creek and Beartrack Cove have been added as well as pairs from a third site.

1995, York Creek, Plot 9, SE-NE
2021, York Creek, Plot 9, SE-NE
1990, York Creek, Plot 1, NE-NW
2021, York Creek, Plot 1, NE-NW
1990, York Creek, Plot 2, SE-NE
2021, York Creek, Plot 2, SE-NE

Vernal endgame

About this time last year, our vernal pool near East Middlebury had been reduced to a puddle by some warm and dry weeks in May. According to our data logger, it was completely dry on June 16. 2020. This year the pool might be dry a little earlier than last year.

Vernal pool NEW370 on June 6, 2021. The pool was reduced to a puddle 4 m by 2 m and about 8 cm deep.

Vernal data

In addition to the HOBO temperature logger in each vernal pool, we have a water depth data logger installed in the two pools we are watching this year. We have looked at the data from late January to early April and the loggers are continually recording new data every 30 minutes.

On our first visit to the new pool (MLS619) on Snake Mountain last fall, Ned revived the HOBO logger and we installed a wooden stake for the water depth logger (left). October 23, 2020.

Autumnal pool

The vernal pool we have been monitoring has been dry since about June 17. There were a couple of rainy days in late June, but the puddles formed did not last more than a day. The pool was dry when I visited on July 10, September 29, and October 23. That is, there was no standing water, but the soil under the leaves was always damp. New data from the water depth datalogger indicate that only two rainfall events between June 30 and October 23 produced standing water in the pool.

Figure 1. Vernal Pool NEW370 on September 29, 2020. I swapped batteries and the SD card which had continual data from July 10. That span of 11+ weeks is so far the longest duration on batteries for this datalogger. This image is stitched from 20 photos. Click to embiggen.

Dry, with a twist

It has been three weeks since I last visited the vernal pool and installed the Version 4 (Ultrasonic) water depth data-logger. I was curious to learn whether the new logger was working and decided to collect the data and replace the batteries in both loggers — the Version 3 logger (laser rangefinder) had also been running since the last visit.

Data loggers near the lowest point in the vernal pool and royal fern where six to 10 inches of water are present for much of the year. July 10, 2020.

Venal Pool

Daytime high temperatures in the first half of June in Middlebury are historically in the 70s F, but so far this year half of the days in June have been in the 80s F. Historically in June, Burlington gets 2.5 inches of rain by the 20th, but so far has gotten only 0.4 inches (last year they got 3.8 inches by now). So maybe I should not have been so surprised on Friday to find that our vernal pool was completely dry. Ned and I visited to collect data from the loggers and install a new version of the DIY water depth and water temperature logger. The new logger might not have much work to do for a while.