Life on Earth explores the SRE puddle once again

For the second year, Life on Earth has asked the question, is the SRE puddle a mosquito-breeding pool or a healthy, high-diversity habitat?

Gearing up for a wet meadow

making sure all of the equipment is working

The first brave souls set out to find the puddle

and the next set join them ... hmmm, no waders?

... ok, now it's getting down-right crowded out there

and what did we find?  No open water at all.  I guess August and September really were very dry!

Recording that essential weather data

The survey crew measuring the lay of the land

A brave soul returns with what little bit of mud there was to sample

Data collection, complete

And sure enough, there are critters in that mud!

Tadpoles, giant water bugs, and a few tiny critters

How do you define dry?

And yet, there were tadpoles hanging on in the tiniest pools of water!

Sure, it might look like a meadow from afar

but the data suggest water

...and close up, those cattails signal water for sure

Now, back to the classroom to prepare to share our findings!