Several important pieces of information are needed when developing conservation and management plans for seasonal pools and the wildlife they support:

• Research and define the specific habitat requirements of each life stage of the species of concern.

Understanding the life history of seasonal pool wildlife is an area of ongoing research.  From egg to larva to adult, each stage of an animal’s life has certain requirements, and these requirements differ by species.  For example some species ride out the dry phase in a seasonal pool as an egg.  The egg must dry out and freeze before it will respond to environmental cues to hatch.  In other species, the larva or adult waits out the dry phase of a seasonal pool in the moist soil under the leaf litter in the pool basin.  Other species have terrestrial adults that leave the seasonal pool.  These adults have another of set of habitat requirements for their life away from the pool.  Some species need wooded upland habitats while other species require nearby streams or permanent ponds.

Terrestrial adults that leave the pool also need to find their way back for the breeding season.  Eighty-five percent of seasonal pool amphibians return each year to breed in the same pond where they were born (Colburn, 2004). They will bypass other pools that provide suitable habitat and cross obstacles such as roads and other forms of human disturbance in order to return to the pool of their birth.  This fidelity by individual amphibians to a particular pool is an important consideration when considering how to conserve the species as a whole.

• Avoid use of certain pesticides and herbicides in and around seasonal pools to maintain the balance that is necessary between predators and their prey.

Larval and adult seasonal pool animals feed on the smaller animals that share their environment such as mosquitoes, midges, gnats, and other flies.  Predators such as amphibian larvae and insects such as dragonfly and diving beetle larvae and adults help control the insect species that are considered pests.  However, when homes encroach upon wetland habitats, municipalities and homeowners often take measures to control mosquitoes and other nuisance insects.  The pesticides used to control these pests have many negative effects on non-target species.  Direct mortality of all insect species occurs when broad-based killing agents are used.   More specific killing agents are available that only harm black flies or mosquitoes, but they indirectly affect the predators by decreasing the availability of their food.

• Protect the species and habitats within a healthy, functioning ecosystem.

Landscape scale conservation of wetland habitats and the supporting upland habitat is needed for long term survival of healthy seasonal pool plant and animal communities.  Identifying and protecting seasonal pool habitats is a first step towards ensuring the long-term survival of seasonal pool wildlife.  Protection of large tracts of habitats supporting seasonal pool communities from alteration and fragmentation is an attainable goal for Pennsylvania, which has large amounts of public lands and many high quality seasonal pool habitats.  Restoration efforts should strive to restore and recreate seasonal pool habitats in areas where they have been lost.  Restoration of the surrounding uplands to relatively natural conditions in terms of connectivity, hydrology, substrate, vegetation, and water quality will help sustain healthy seasonal pool communities as well.