Why Save the Caddisfly?

Maybe it is the ephemeral nature of a vernal pool that makes it seem less important than a permanent habitat. However, without these small bodies of water that appear in mid-March to late April and disappear in the warmer months maintaining over 100 species including the more well-known tree frog, spotted salamander, caddisfly, fairy shrimp, and bog turtle who need an aquatic environment to spawn would disappear permanently and as quickly as these ponds dry up. This list of inhabitants who use the pool is a long one; some use it for every portion of their life cycle; others depend on it for specific times.
Some of these species are cute and attractive such as the tree frog and salamander. Others, like the caddisfly, "the underwater architects", according to Glenn Wiggins; are intimating, night flying nuisances- unless you are a fly fisherman, that is. For this sportsman knows caddisflies are a trout's favorite and essential meal. There is a plethora of information explaining how caddisflies catch trout. However, finding juvenile literature for children about the caddisfly is difficult, if not impossible. Unlike its cousin, the beautiful butterfly, who also spins a silk cocoon, this simple moth which carries his wings over his back like a tent, has a hardiness instead of beauty. It is this endurance that explains why ecologists often study this aquatic invertebrate? It's absence is a harbinger of a deteriorating environment, particularly the vernal pool which supports so much biological diversity. Unlike the mayfly which cannot eat or drink, the hardy caddisfly tolerates more pollution. Therefore, if this insect disappears, there is good reason to suspect toxins in the water.

Do You Know?

Caddisflies are called architects because, ..."some species of caddisflies are even known to incorporate tiny pieces of translucent quartz, believed to serve as a window allowing the resident
larvae to monitor daylight."
Mary Garvin and J.P. Lieser Life In the Water: Aquatic Vertabrates (online)

Whose Tracks Are They?

Before you hurry to the car, take a moment to check out the tracks crossing the fresh snow next to your doorstep. One glance will intrigue even the busiest among us to stop and wonder who or what made them. Some of us will use it as a brisk reason to spend time outdoors following the mysterious steps. Even the least adventuresome might find it exciting to imagine who passed by your window when you were not looking.

What better way to tweak a child's imagination on a snowy winter day?

What is the biggest, scariest, smallest track you have seen?


Read More About It
Tracks In The Snow by Herbert Wong is a 2007 children's book about an Asian girl who follows her tracks through her neighborhood discovering they are her own from yesterday's walk.
This soft 32 page picture book is a great beginning preschoolers to second graders to connect with the wildlife walking and running on the same paths they use every day.

In Big Tracks, Little Tracks Millicent Selsam tells her 7 to 9 year old readers why a cat looks like an animal with two feet.