by Ryan Reed
Northern red salamander, Michaux State Forest.
This weekend we will “spring forward” and thus begin Daylight Saving Time. Civil discourse and lost sleep aside, this time of year is an important one for the natural community. Like the clock change, the annual transition in plant and animal behavior is based on increasing day length.
As the daily sunlight hours increase, solar energy warms the surface, melting snow and thawing the ground. Warming soil stimulates the plants and trees to begin moving nutrients that will eventually be used to form leaves. Melting snows help to fill vernal pools that will serve as temporary, aquatic forest nurseries. Soil microbes, insects, and other invertebrates are stirring beneath the duff; an entire subterranean community is awakening.
Waiting in the wings, but mind you not very long, are hordes of migratory birds that will arrive just in time to take advantage of the burgeoning biological activity. Along meadows and field edges, bluebirds are selecting their nesting cavities and preparing them with materials. Simultaneously, scores of amphibians like salamanders, frogs, and toads are trekking to their vernal pools of choice to mate, lay eggs, and give rise to the next generation. In the steams, black caddisflies, blue winged olives, and stoneflies are hatching and fish are becoming more active.
Round lobed hepatica, Rothrock State Forest
Even though it may look brown out there, many plant species are just on the cusp of breaking their dormancy. Adapted to avail themselves of light reaching the forest floor without the interference of tree leaves, spring ephemerals like hepatica, spring beauty, trillium, and trout lily are waking up too. A specialized community of flies, beetles, ants, and others are poised to interact specifically with them, adding a layer of biological diversity.
Buds are swelling, earthworms are rising, and our first avian migrants are arriving. In just a few weeks, green will replace the brown and flowers will dot the landscape. Birdsong and spring peepers will fill the air with their joyful notes of life anew. Like our clocks this weekend, life is springing forward!
