Vernal pools: Hotspots of biodiversity?

 

In January 2020, I started my master’s thesis at Lammi Biological Station (LBS) studying vernal pools and their roles in the enhancement of the vertebrate biodiversity. A vernal pool is a natural pool with a typical water cycle of filling and drying. One of the main consequences of human activity is biodiversity loss. Loss of biodiversity in temporary wetlands, such as ephemeral pools, are much less studied than in permanent wetlands, ponds, and lakes. Vernal pools are threatened by water contamination due to road de-icing salt, ditching practices since the 1950s, and climate change. The aim of my study was to investigate the role of vernal pools for vertebrate communities by comparing the activity and species richness of birds and mammals between 10 ephemeral ponds, and 10 permanent wetlands.

In order to carry out this study, my fieldwork has been done in Evo along winter and spring 2020, through bird sightings, camera trapping, faeces tracking, and snap-trapping.

Thanks to the fieldwork, I found out that bird’s activity depends on the season and the habitat. The results revealed higher activity in vernal pools in spring while in winter no differences have been observed between both habitats. Moreover, my results highlighted that the activity and species richness of large mammals were significantly higher by vernal pools than by permanent wetlands; and herbivorous mammals such as moose, roe deer and hare, seemed to visit more often vernal pools than permanent wetlands. In the case of small mammals, despite no difference in abundance between both habitats, their activity changed monthly within the two habitats. In parallel, I conducted dissection of rodents to determine their age and their physical conditions (length, weight, body mass index etc.) but no differences have been found.

Those results demonstrated that vernal pools are providing high benefits to mammals and birds, which should be considered in forest management and in the context of climate change.

In July 2020 I graduated in my University in France and in the next year, the October 1^st, 2021, a manuscript based on my research has been accepted for publication in the Global Ecology and Conservation Journal: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01858

Spending the 6 months in LBS has been an amazing experience. I met fantastic people and I am very grateful for their help during my research.

I want to thank the foundation for supporting my research.

Charly Dixneuf is 2020 LBAYS grant recipient

Investigation of boreal forest integrity for the conservation of mammal species in Finland

Lammi Biological Station has been my home for almost two years and is where I mainly conduct my doctoral research, which is the analysis of forest ecological integrity in relation to anthropogenic pressure. For this reason, I conducted my research fieldwork in forests privately owned by Finnish landowners living in the Kanta-Häme region, which is characterized by patchy forests and agricultural landscapes, making it ideal for the assessment of forest integrity. Thanks to this, I have the opportunity not only to learn more about the forests surrounding the Lammi area, but also about the local people and their views on the importance of forest corridors for the conservation of wildlife, especially for native species to boreal forests.

Forest integrity is often difficult to fully understand and measure because it describes the completeness and functionality of an ecosystem and its ecological processes, especially in relation to its natural state. In my doctoral research, using the Forest Landscape Integrity Index (the first consistent measure of ecological integrity for all the world’s forests), I am analysing the state of boreal forests in relation to the presence, abundance and richness of mammal species monitored through the Wildlife Triangle Scheme. Thanks to this, it will be possible to identify threshold values for forest integrity and set specific conservation targets for wildlife conservation, that should aim to increase favorable habitats for native species. Considering this, from the results of my first research, it is possible to observe that the species native to the Finnish boreal forests have a higher abundance in forests with higher integrity (in particular, mountain hare, lynx, moose, wolverine, and pine marten) than non-native and/or northly expanding species whose abundance increases in forests with lower integrity, indicating a greater adaptive capacity of these species, even in areas with higher human presence. 

In my research on camera-trapping, I will also evaluate forest integrity as a variable characterizing forest corridors, which are important components of landscape connectivity for allowing the movement of animals between habitat patches. Forest connectivity, including forest integrity, is influenced by human activities and affects wildlife. This analysis will be significant because it will be possible to understand which specific features the corridors need to constitute efficient elements for favoring the conservation of native species and for predicting and avoiding the spread of invasive species.

Francesca Malcangi is a 2022 LBAYS grant recipient. You can find out more about Francesca from her website: https://francescamalcangi.eu/ and on Twitter: @francescamalca3