Put a Little Spring in Your Step

The depth of the snow from our door to the birdfeeders that hang in our lilac bush increased to the point where it made filling them a physical challenge. Wearing snowshoes or cross-country skis might have helped, but wading through the snow seemed the best choice for such a short distance.

As layers froze over and more fluffy snow arrived, it came to the point that we'd walk a few steps on the snow and then break through and sink to our keesters,occasionally tipping over in the snow. I remember as a child walking to catch a school bus in this fashion. As an adult, I didn't find it nearly so much fun.

Coming nose to nose, so to speak, with the snow forced me to notice I had company: little specks of dirt that actually moved in the clean, fresh snow. This led to further investigation. My online sources told me that instead of minor hallucinations, these tiny, active flecks are one of nature's small miracles: snow fleas. Hardly larger than a grain of pepper, these creatures can survive subzero temperatures, can jump 20 times as high as their body length, and have flourished on this earth since long before the dinosaurs appeared.

I've mentioned these interesting facts to several friends, acquaintances and family members. They had never heard of or seen snow fleas and looked at me strangely as I described the phenomenon I witnessed in the snow. This goes to show, you don't always know what you've got, even when it lives right under your nose.

Members of the insect order Collembola, with more than 6,000 species scattered around the globe, springtails may be the most abundant insects on the planet. The name snow fleas is misleading, as it bears no relationship to fleas.

The springtail gets its name from the spring-like hook (called a furcula) attached to the underside of its abdomen. When these hooks release, the jumping begins. Strangely, however, it may not go anywhere except up and back down in the same position.

Since springtails tend to congregate in large masses and get trapped in crevices and low areas in the snow such as footsteps, watching these tiny guys hopping about can be a bit startling. They will also float in a group on puddles as the snow melts during the day. A non-porous coating on their exoskeletons prevents them from getting soaked.

Springtails don't necessarily appear every day. As this winter progressed, the snowbanks grew to monstrous proportions outside our living room window. It became impossible to ignore them. I began to wonder about a collection of black "dust" that would appear one day and not the next in one corner beneath our eaves. Run-off from our black shingles seemed a possible source, but why one day and not the next? As I was researching springtails it dawned on me that this "dust" didn't come from disintegrating shingles: these black specks were springtails.

Springtails actually have a function in life other than bewildering hapless ladies who have fallen in the snow. They feed on decomposing leaves, fungi, algae, dead worms, insects and other organic debris in the ground. Some sources actually call them most important decomposer organisms in the formation of the earth's soils.

Scientists have also found an unusual anti-freeze protein in springtails' bodies. This protein has been studied to see if it could help increase the longevity of human organs for medical transplants.

Harmless to humans, pets, and structures, snow fleas won't invade your stored food supplies or gnaw holes in your woolens. In most cases, springtails found in or about your house will soon disappear on their own,without the use of pesticides.

Springtails climb from below the snow to the surface as the winter temperatures begin to warm up. I like to think of them as a sign of spring, because they seem to show up when the sun gets stronger. It always pleases me to discover something that can live on and under the snow, defying cold, icy weather.

Somehow I suspect that if life as we know it disappeared from the earth, the tough little springtail would survive. So step outside and see for yourself: Life is where you find it.

UNH Cooperative Extension,Helen Downing, Master Gardener

Posted April 2, 2008 | TrackBack