ARMI
> Research Team
Research Team
NRMSC Team Members
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FORT Team Members
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Past Team Members
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NRMSC
Dr.
Steve Corn, USGS, Principal Investigator.
Steve received his Ph.D. in 1982 from Colorado State University where
his dissertation focused on selection pressures affecting a dorsal color
polymorphism in leopard frogs (Rana pipiens). He has been working on amphibians
and amphibian decline since about 1980. His current research projects
include status and trends of Rocky Mountain amphibians, with investigations
into the effects of global change; long-term monitoring of populations;
effects of UV-B on amphibians; and geographic genetic variation in the
Bufo boreas species complex. Steve has been involved with the planning
and implementation of the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative
since 1998 and served at temporary detail as the National Coordinator
for ARMI at USGS headquarters in Reston, Virginia in 2002. He is an editor
for Herpetological Conservation, a member of the Species Survival Commission
of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and is an affiliate faculty for
Idaho State University and the University of Montana.
Blake
Hossack, USGS, Zoologist.
Blake joined the Leopold Institute staff in September 2000. He has coordinated
surveys of amphibian populations in Glacier National Park and other locations
with principal investigator Steve Corn since May 1999. Blake is also involved
in a project studying the effects of the wildfire on amphibians and aquatic
habitats in Glacier National Park and capture-recapture studies of Columbia
spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) and Boreal Toads (Bufo boreas).
He completed his master's degree in Wildlife Biology from the University
of Idaho, Moscow after a Bachelor's degree in Wildlife Biology from the
University of Montana.
Dr.
Chuck Peterson, Collaborator - Principal Investigator.
Dr. Petersonreceived his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Zoology at the University
of Illinois-Urbana, his Ph.D. in Zoology at Washington State University,
and conducted his postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago. He is
currently a Professor of Zoology in the Department of Biological Sciences,
a member of the Geotechnologies Program faculty at Idaho State University,
and is Curator of Herpetology for the Idaho Museum of Natural History.
Since 1988, Dr. Peterson has been involved in herpetological research
and conservation efforts in Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,
engaging in numerous survey, monitoring, and research projects with a
number of organizations, guiding graduate student research projects, developing
a herpetological database for Idaho, and creating and testing amphibian
and reptile habitat models. His research interests include application
of recent technologies (e.g., radiotelemetry, automated data acquisition,
GIS, GPS, and remote sensing) to ecological studies and the conservation
biology of amphibians and reptiles. He also is heavily involved with outreach
education and conducts a number of herpetological workshops and courses.
Deb
Patla, Collaborator - Idaho State University, Research Associate.
Deb has conducted amphibian surveys, monitoring, and research in the Yellowstone-Teton
area since 1993. She received a Master's degree from Idaho State University
for research on the effects of habitat modification and fragmentation
on a population of Columbia spotted frogs in Yellowstone National Park,
a population that she continues to monitor under ARMI. Deb designs and
coordinates surveys and conducts field work for the ARMI-GYE project,
based out of her home office near Victor, Idaho. Over the last several
years, she has worked with Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks,
the National Elk Refuge, the Bridger-Teton National Forest, and other
agencies to provide information on amphibian occurrence, the potential
effects of proposed land management projects, and conservation measures.
Bryce
Maxell, Collaborator - University of Montana, Ph.D. candidate.
Bryce received his B.S. in Biology and B.A. in Economics from the University
of Puget Sound in 1994 where he conducted a demographic study of subtidal
seaweeds. He received a Thomas Watson Fellowship to study the natural
history and management of the flora and fauna of terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems in Australia and New Zealand. Bryce's Ph.D. research focuses
on demography and behavioral ecology of Columbia spotted frogs in relation
to fish stocking. Bryce has worked on a variety of research projects including
coordinating inventories for amphibians and aquatic reptile species on
state and federal lands across western Montana, development of GAP analysis
models for the amphibians and reptiles of Montana, conducting sensitivity
analyses for amphibians using matrix population models, identifying risk
factors and developing management guidelines for Montana's amphibians
and reptiles and summarizing the distribution, status, and study of Montana's
amphibians and reptiles.
FORT
Dr.
Erin Muths, USGS, Principal Investigator.
Erin received her Ph.D. from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
where her dissertation focused on the physiological ecology of red kangaroos
(Macropus rufus). She has been working on amphibians and amphibian
decline since 1995. Her current research projects include status and trends
of Rocky Mountain amphibians with investigations into habitat use in boreal
toads and woodfrogs using radiotelemetry; long-term monitoring of populations;
amphibian health; an investigation of the prevalence of chytrid fungus
an its relation to boreal toad populations along the great divide transect
with Dr. David Pilliod; and capture-recapture methods development. Erin
served on a temporary detail as the National Coordinator for ARMI at USGS
headquarters in Reston, Virginia in 2003. She is an associate editor for
Northwestern Naturalist, a member of the boreal toad recovery team (Colorado
Division of Wildlife), and an affiliate faculty member for Colorado State
University.
Rick
Scherer, Colorado State University, Master's degree candidate.
Rick started work as a volunteer in the fall of 1998. He worked on our
field crew in 1999 using capture-recapture and radiotelemetry to study
boreal toads in Rocky Mountain National Park. Rick began his master's
degree at CSU in 2000. His focus is on examining the causes of the
decline of Bufo boreas in Rocky Mountain National Park using capture-recapture,
and an information-theoretic approach to population modeling. Rick's advisors
at CSU are Drs. Barry Noon, Gary White, and Tom Hobbs. Rick received his
Bachelor's degree from Indiana University at Bloomington in Business/Marketing.
He has worked on projects studying the use of habitat by elk in Rocky
Mountain National Park and volunteered with the Rocky Mountain Raptor
Program.
Past Staff Members
Dr.
David Pilliod, Aquatic Ecologist.
David received his Bachelors degree in Biology from the University of
California Santa Cruz and his Ph.D. from Idaho State University. In 2001,
David completed a post-doc at the University of Montana coordinating amphibian
surveys in Montana and North Dakota for the Amphibian Research and Monitoring
Initiative. David then began a post-doctoral term appointment with the
USDA Forest Service Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute and initiated
a 4-year study investigating the effects of prescribed burning and wildland
fire on amphibians and aquatic habitats in western forests. David is studying
how fire in upland and riparian forests influence streams and how fuel
treatment projects, aimed at reducing fuels and fire risk in overgrown
forests, affect stream habitats and aquatic communities. This work contributes
to a growing body of information on the role of fire in maintaining ecosystem
structure and function in western forests and provides important new information
on terrestrial-aquatic watershed linkages. In addition to his work on
fire and stream ecology, David conducts research on the effects of non-native
fish on headwater ecosystems, on aquatic disease transmission in lakes
and ponds, and on the movements and genetic structure of amphibian populations
in heterogeneous landscapes.
Greg
Guscio, University of Montana, Master's degree candidate.
Greg Guscio is a Master's student at the University of Montana examining
the effects of wildfires on boreal toads (Bufo boreas). He began
working for the USGS as a biological technician studying amphibians in
Glacier National Park in the summer of 2000 and has worked on that project
each summer since. Greg wintered in Point Reyes, California, where he
worked on California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii) research
at the USGS Western Ecological Research Center. Results from pre- and
post-fire surveys in Glacier NP indicate a higher likelihood of breeding
by boreal toads in areas recently burned by wildfires. Greg plans to investigate
these results by comparing areas with differing fire histories. Through
monitoring movements and microhabitat selection by adult toads, while
simultaneously documenting suitability of various microsites, he hopes
to assess differences in available habitat and how they may affect use
of different areas by boreal toads.
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