Exploring the outdoors can lead to some interesting scientific finds. Look what happened when Isaac Newton saw that apple fall from the tree.<\/p>\n
51ÁÔÆæ students Morgan Schmanski and Joey Cannizzaro made an interesting and rare find just by digging in the dirt.<\/p>\n
Schmanski, who graduated in December in conservation and environmental sciences, and Cannizzaro, a graduate student in biology, were on a hike at the 51ÁÔÆæ Field Station last fall as part of a conservation and environmental science field methods class. Schmanski, who was also taking a class in mineralogy, spotted an interesting rock and decided to check it out.<\/p>\n
Digging in the soft dirt around the rock, Schmanski saw the tail of an unusual creature underneath. Classmates told her it was probably a dead snake, but she was intrigued enough to mention it to biology graduate student and herpetologist Cannizzaro when the group went to lunch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Dude, you need to look at this,\u2019\u201d Schmanski said. \u201cSo Joey put his hands in the dirt and found this little guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201clittle guy\u201d turned out to be a rare four-toed salamander, the first one ever documented in Ozaukee County.<\/p>\n
\u201cSalamanders in general are really hard to find,\u201d Cannizzaro said. \u201cThey don\u2019t call like frogs do, and they\u2019re underground most of the year, so they\u2019re very, very hard to find.\u201d He\u2019s familiar with amphibians through his work with frogs in Associate Professor of Biology Gerlinde H\u00f6bel\u2019s lab.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was ecstatic,\u201d said Cannizzaro.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an understatement,\u201d Schmanski added with a laugh.<\/p>\n
The four-toed salamander (scientific name Hemidactylium scutatum) is distinguished from other local salamanders by its gray and white speckled belly.<\/p>\n
Gretchen Meyer, director of the 51ÁÔÆæ Field Station who was leading the class, which was actually focused on the beech forest that day, confirmed the find. The identification was later further confirmed by other researchers who verified what the students had found. The salamander was photographed and returned to its home with GPS coordinates documented.<\/p>\n
Cannizzaro believes that the field station, which is adjacent to the Cedarburg Bog, provides a good environment for the rare salamander because it has an abundance of sphagnum moss where the females like to nest, so more of the rare salamanders may turn up.<\/p>\n
The finding was submitted to the journal Herpetological Review to be published as a new county record. That issue came out March 22.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese salamanders are found statewide where older forest cover is intact, but distribution records are very spotty because they are hard to find,\u201d said Gary Casper, biologist and associate scientist at the field station. \u201cIn the southern half of the state they often occur as \u2018glacial relicts\u2019 in forest patches that once were connected to continuous forest cover but are now isolated in moister micro-climates within prairie regions,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is a new county record, and it is nice that the students recognized it as such and documented it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nearest other documented populations are in the North Kettle Moraine State Forest, according to Casper.<\/p>\n
Cannizzaro, who has been interested in reptiles and amphibians since he was a child, is hopeful that other members of the rare salamander family will be found at the 51ÁÔÆæ Field Station or nearby Cedarburg Bog. \u201cThe habitat is right for them, so it\u2019s likely there are more.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also amazed that with all the research that biologists have done in the area over the past 50 years, the salamander hasn\u2019t been previously discovered, but it\u2019s tiny and can stay well-hidden.<\/p>\n
Both he and Schmanski really appreciated the opportunity to take the class and spend time at the field station. Each session focused on different topics, including trees and insects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great class to take. I\u2019m just very happy and fortunate that the university offers a class like that at the field station,\u201d Cannizzaro said.<\/p>\n
Schmanski liked the fact that students in the class really bonded and formed a community. \u201cThat\u2019s why I knew I could ask Joey about what I\u2019d found.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spend a lot of time outside during the class and the students find many interesting things, but finding a fourtoed salamander was exceptional,\u201d said Meyer. \u201cThis was an exciting find, both for the two students who found it and for the rest of the class who got to see it and learn about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Schmanski graduated in December, she plans to eventually return to school to study more about conservation because she has a great interest in the environment and really felt she learned a lot, especially this past semester, she said.<\/p>\n
Taking the class at the field station and finding the salamander really helped wrap up her undergraduate education nicely.<\/p>\n
\u201cGretchen was definitely a phenomenal professor. She just made everything I\u2019ve learned in the past four years come together.\u201d<\/p>\n