Once again, I’ve been so busy I forgot to make a post for September. Things have been mostly status quo for now though. Tracking has continued at all three sites – it’s been warm enough here that the toads are still up and about. Thankfully, Hurricane Florence didn’t cause us to lose any animals either!…
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The post September 2018 Update appeared first on W&M Honors Fellows.

Once again, another month has passed in the blink of an eye. I’ve been busy this past month, which is why this post is a day late. Many of the toads of both species have begun moving large distances again – sometimes leaving the area over the course of just one night. Fowler’s toads are…
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The post August 2018: Breeding Season Ends, Data Analysis Begins appeared first on W&M Honors Fellows.

Hard to believe it is already the end of July! Tracking has had its ups and down as always, but things have gone more or less smoothly. We had one instance of snake predation back in late June, which we were able to confirm because we actually tracked down the snake who ate our toad!…
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The post July 2018: Picking Up Movement Patterns appeared first on W&M Honors Fellows.

Ah, the field season – the best time of the year! This summer’s field season started strong back in May. And, as with the beginning of any field season, it began with a lot of logistics and planning. When tracking multiple species across three different field sites, it can sometimes be a challenge to have…
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The post June 2018: Summer Field Season Begins appeared first on W&M Honors Fellows.

Habitat destruction is one of the largest threats to amphibians globally1. To conserve amphibians, it is crucial to understand habitat use throughout their annual cycle. This is particularly important for pond-breeding amphibians, as many rely on different habitats at different times of the year2. My research focuses on the annual movement and habitat use of…
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The post Informing Amphibian Conservation: Non-breeding Season Movement and Habitat Use in Three Species of Pond-breeding Frogs appeared first on W&M Honors Fellows.

It is hard to believe the summer is already over – it seems like just yesterday I was tagging my first toad! Field work has its challenges (mosquitos, bad weather, MUD) but overall I have found the experience to by highly rewarding. I have enjoyed getting to be outside all day studying species that fascinate […]

The post Final Summary: Drawing Conclusions appeared first on Upperclass Monroe Scholars Summer Research Projects.

This is an exciting time! Finally, after a long summer field season, we are able to start analyzing our hard won data! I hope to have some nice clean charts in my final blog post, but first I will simply describe the methods I have been using to analyze our various data sets. To analyze […]

The post Blog Post 3: Analyzing Data appeared first on Upperclass Monroe Scholars Summer Research Projects.

Hello Again! As always, the past two weeks have been filled with tracking! We also tagged a few more pickerel frogs during a large rainstorm last week, as the wet conditions brought them out in full force! Most species will begin migrating away from breeding ponds soon, making it more difficult to track them, so […]

The post Blog Post Two: Preliminary Movement Patterns appeared first on Upperclass Monroe Scholars Summer Research Projects.

Time flies when you are doing fieldwork! I’ve been waiting excitedly to give an update on my project until I had a few weeks of solid tracking under my belt. I started the field season back in June, but it took a little while to get the daily protocol nailed down. I spent the first […]

The post Blog Post One: Tracking in Full Swing! appeared first on Upperclass Monroe Scholars Summer Research Projects.

Migration is a major part of the life histories of most anuran (frogs and toads) species, and yet very little is currently understood about this process. My research will examine the movement patterns of frogs and toads in the southeastern Virginia region as they migrate between breeding and wintering grounds. Using a novel technique known […]

The post Annual Movement Patterns of Pond-breeding Anurans: An Understudied Mechanism of High Conservation Concern appeared first on Upperclass Monroe Scholars Summer Research Projects.