This project was about learning how to conduct fieldwork on our own and then being able to analyze the data we got from doing our fieldwork. Once we got all our data that we needed from Durango Nature Studies we got back to Animas High School we put all our data in data tables seperating the pond and the river data making it easier for people to read and understand our data.
"Time to Stop Worrying About Invasive Species" the main point of this artical is that we should not judge a species from where it comes from but from where it belongs. Examples of this are zebra mussels in the great lakes or cane toads in Australia.
I don't really now how to feel about this artical. I feel like this is true that if the invasive species is helping the environment then it should be aloud to out compete the native specie, but if it's hurting the environment then it shouldn't be aloud to out compete the native species.
Over this project I learned how to identify bullfrogs and leopard frogs and I also learned what a curtain habitat needs to have curtain macroinvertebrates thrive in it. I also learned how to do the Shannon Weiner index to help find out the water quality. This is all been really interesting to learn because I like working hands on and doing work with mathmatical equations so doing this stuff in our project helped me realize what I was really doing.
Species Management Plan for
Rana pipiens & Rana catesbieana on the Durango Nature Studies Center Property
Abe Ott and Cameron Theran
Durango, CO
2011
Field Condition Form: Abe Ott
The objective for Durango Nature Studies is to encourage native amphibians and discourage the invasive Rana Catesbeiana (Bull Frog). The Bull Frog was first seen on the property in 2009, the bull frog is in the top 100 most invasive spices in the world to date. Bull frogs are already threatening the native population of cricket frogs, leopard frogs, as well as chorus frogs.
Animas High School students went to the Durango Nature Studies property and conducted research in the following categories: water quality, visual encounter of amphibians, and wildlife inventory. This helped us estimate the native population, and how well established the invasive species and assess the ecosystem better.
The DNS property is used for a variety of things throughout the year including school programs (Animas High, Fort Lewes, and multiple elementary schools), professional training, volunteer naturalist training, after school nature clubs, moon lit hikes, and other summer programs. By doing this DNS is exposing it’s self to the community and getting the common Jo interested in wildlife.
For this project the Animas High School students have been granted a 2,000 dollar budget but my partner and I are going to try and reduce the cost as much as possible to zero if possible
Plan Development Abe Ott
Leopard frogs thrive in a wide range of habitats, including brush lands, marshy areas, and sparse wood lands. They reside mostly in slow-moving permanent water including aquatic vegetation but can be found in agricultural and sub-urban areas such as golf courses. Leopard frogs are well-adapted to cold and can be found at elevations up to 3,350 meters. They are commonly known as meadow frogs or grass frogs because they tend to forage far from the water when it is not breeding season. They prefer open areas rather than woods. Leopard frogs are from 5 to 11.1 cm long and about 28 grams in weight (Harding, 1997). The earliest date Northern Leopard Frogs have been reported to emerge from hibernation is March 1 (Sutton, 1987). Upon emerging, these frogs begin calling throughout the early parts of March. The call of the Northern Leopard Frog is a series of guttural grunts. Breeding occurs in ponds, swamps, and other stationary water sources. Eggs are attached to vegetation or may lie idle at the bottom of a pond and may lay masses of 300 to 800 eggs (Sutton, 1987). After they are laid hatching occurs in a week and tadpoles develop for one year, transforming upon reaching a size of 2-3 inches (Sutton, 1987).
Bullfrogs eat any animal they can capture, kill and swallow, including: worms, insects, crustaceans, other frogs, snakes, and even small mammals and birds. This is the largest North American frog, weighing up to 1 pound and measuring up to 20 cm in length. Bullfrogs are brownish with shades of green and spots or blotches of a darker color on the back. The belly color ranges from white to yellow, and in some individuals is marked with black spots or a vein-like pattern. The hind feet are fully webbed. Breeding males use a deep bass jug-a-rum call that can be heard over a distance of more than half a mile. During the long spring and summer breeding season, males aggressively defend a territory, wrestling fiercely with other males and attempting to mate with as many females as possible. Thousands of eggs are laid during the summer. Tadpoles over-winter and develop into Bullfrogs over the next 1 to 3 years, depending on food availability and water temperature (Harding , 2011).
Animas High School students studied the Durango Nature Studies’ pond and its’ water quality. Based on the macro-invertebrate samples it was concluded that the pond had above average water quality. This was concluded because there were a high number of mayflies and damselflies as well as a small number of caddisflys. Although there was a high water quality, the diversity of the macro-invertebrates was below par, the pond was .98. This shows that the macro-invertebrate’s diversity in the area is low. The portion of the Florida River that flows through the DNS is in the same position; the water quality is high but the diversity low. Although DNS has control over their pond the river is much less predictable because it extends far above the DNS property and is subject to large amounts of pollutants through run off and other means.
Plan implementation: Cameron
Abe and Cameron can manage the DNS property to encourage leopard frogs by making traps that every frog can get in, but only leopard frogs can get out. The reason only leopard frogs can get out is because Abe and Cameron will make a small door only big enough for a leopard frog. Another strategy would be to let in a predator that will only kill the bull frog and will leave the leopard frog and all the other native creatures alone. I feel (3rd person, get rid of I) this will work because then we can move the bull frogs out of the Area or even kill them lowering their numbers. Abe and Cameron also feel (can't use feel) that the predator will work because it will be doing all the work in keeping bull frogs out of the DNS area so Abe and Cameron don't have to do any work .
Abe and Cameron can do this by getting people to donate nets and crates so that Abe and Cameron can build traps that that will be big enough that leopard frogs and bull frogs can get in but only leopard frogs can get out. This won't cost anything because we're getting all our resources from donations. Abe and Cameron can also get a predator of the bull frogs by going out and looking for one or have someone donate it. This will cost in a range from 0-500 dollars. (What predator are you going to use?) (Earlier you say that this plan will cost nothing, so what will cost $500?)
After Abe and Cameron have the bull frogs trapped then Abe and Cameron will go through the traps making sure that Abe and Cameron have only trapped bull frogs and not the natural leopard frogs. After that, then Abe and Cameron can sell them to restaurants that eat frog legs. That way Cameron and Abe will be making money off of the frogs so Abe and Cameron can buy nicer traps and still come out even or even be in the positive. Cameron, Abe, and volunteers will be doing this over the time period of ten years. This will cost nothing to us to make as long as we get them donated. If not donated it will cost us 500 dollars to make the traps and we will be making that money back by selling the frogs we catch to restaurants that eat frog legs.
| Pond | levels | conclusion | River | levels | conclusion |
| pH | 8.5ppm | high | pH | 8.5ppm | high |
| Nitrates | 1ppm | low | Nitrates | 2ppm | low |
| Phosphates | 2ppm | high | Phosphates | 1ppm | high |
| DO | 6.5 mg/L | high | DO | 8.5 mg/L | high |
