{"id":138846,"date":"2018-08-15T08:01:31","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T12:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=138846"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:17:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:17:46","slug":"nature-knowledge-doorstep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/08\/nature-knowledge-doorstep\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature and Knowledge at Our Doorstep"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of a series<\/a> about the work of faculty members who are seeking to understand the impact of climate change here in Connecticut, and to work toward environmentally sustainable solutions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Notes from the field\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

At dusk on a cool, damp evening in late spring, a group of UConn students and researchers suit up in waders and descend upon a flooded meadow, just off the Storrs campus in the UConn Forest. The going is slow, and a little treacherous as the destination is more flooded than usual this evening. Tangled mounds of grass and fallen tree limbs await in the murky water, to trip the unwary.<\/p>\n

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Studies are showing that a connection with nature is important for our health, yet we have this partition between us and the natural world. How can we preserve what we don\u2019t appreciate or understand? — Kurt Schwenk<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The outing is part of a summer course in Field Herpetology and an opportunity for ecology and evolutionary biology professor Kurt Schwenk to enlist help from students locating the vocal spring peepers, Pseudacris crucifer,<\/em> in the act of mating.<\/p>\n

Schwenk primarily studies the functional morphology and evolution of lizards and snakes, but lately he\u2019s gotten interested in the peculiar way that frog larvae (tadpoles) breathe air, despite having perfectly good gills. He\u2019s using the class tonight to help him determine the feasibility of obtaining spring peeper eggs from mating pairs. Before heading into the chilly waters, he tells the group to keep their eyes peeled, as the small frogs will pair up and float at the water\u2019s surface, in a mating behavior called amplexus. Almost immediately the students start looking around, searching for the tiny pairs of frogs.<\/p>\n

After a signal for the group to be quiet, the frogs close by eventually start to sing again, making it easier to locate them despite their extremely effective camouflage. But for the students, pausing also means sinking a bit further into the mud.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A spring peeper, Pseudacris crucifer. (Kurt Schwenk\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soon, a peeper is caught, and while he carefully holds the squirming frog, Schwenk explains that \u2018crucifer<\/em>\u2019 in the frog\u2019s Latin name comes from the markings on its back that resemble a cross.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the extra skin on the frog\u2019s throat,\u201d he points out to the group gathered around him, \u201cthis fills with air and is important when they vocalize.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the evening draws on, the frog calls grow into an engulfing and mesmerizing chorus. The high pitched \u2018cheeruping\u2019 of the peepers is met with a cheerful and lower-pitched trilling of the gray tree frog. These frog calls are a familiar sound of spring in Connecticut.<\/p>\n

The chorus is interspersed with occasional exclamations from students at an interesting find, or expletives at the perilous footing or boots lodged in the sticky mud.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no, my waders are filling up! I\u2019m soaked,\u201d says one student, after his foot caught a divot.<\/p>\n

Watch video of a gray tree frog calling, with a loud tree frog chorus in the background, as well as a few green frogs calling:<\/em><\/p>\n