Research Team

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.

Research Team

NRMSC Team Members

Dr. Steve Corn
Blake Hossack
Dr. David Pilliod
Dr. Chuck Peterson
Deb Patla
Bryce Maxell
Greg Guscio

FORT Team Members

Dr. Erin Muths
Sarah Street
Rick Scherer
Andrea Moore

Past Team Members

Dr. David Pilliod
Greg Guscio

NRMSC

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FORT

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Past Staff Members

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