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At the beginning of December, I had the opportunity to attend a conference being held in Cartagena, Colombia. I was asked by the organizers of a special symposium entitled “Parental Care in Anurans” to give a talk on my recent work on parental care in glass frogs. Getting out of Ohio in December, to go to the tropics? How could I say no?

When I left gray Cleveland it was 29 degrees Fahrenheit. When I landed in colorful Cartagena, it was 88 degrees. The city (and my hotel) was hard on the beachfront , looking out onto the blue Caribbean. The conference itself was the IV Congreso Colombiano de Zoologia (the Fourth Colombian Congress of Zoology). It had three official languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese and had attendees from all over Central and South America (as well as a few of us norteamericanos). Though I speak a bit of Spanish, it has been long since I used it much. So, I gave my talk in English with Spanish on my slides. Many others did similarly, which allowed more people to follow the science either by reading or by listening. My talk was well-received and I heard impressive work from many other colleagues. We all went to lunch at a traditional Colombian restaurant to discuss our science further and enjoy excellent food and music.

Across the street from the convention center is the old city. And by old, I mean founded in 1533 old. The walls of the old Spanish citadel are still intact and inside are wide brick plazas, and vendors selling all manner of goods in the narrow, crooked alleys. One has to walk in through the famous clock tower and was a wonderful place to explore on lunch breaks.

Several of the nearby parks were also interesting spots to sit and watch ordinary Colombians have their midday meal. In the parks I also found mating green iguanas, some shrieking monkeys, and birds galore (from snowy egrets to grayish saltators). A successful and enjoyable trip. I would be happy if my travels someday took me back to Colombia to explore some more of this diverse country. But for now I will just try to hold on to some of that tropical heat to help me get through the winter.

About a month ago, I returned from my eighth research trip to the lovely and interesting islands of Trinidad and Tobago. In addition to my own work on frog ecology, evolution, behavior and conservation, I had four fabulous students from the College of Wooster accompany me. Erin Hodson (’15) undertook a compelling field project examining the attack rates of coral snakes and their harmless mimics using fake snakes fashioned out clay. Poor Erin (and her family and friends – thanks all!) hand-made four hundred and eighty of these snakes and got them down there in one piece. Many of these ‘snakes’ were attacked on both islands and initial results support Erin’s hypothesis of lower attack rates on Trinidad where venomous coral snakes occur, compared to Tobago where coral snakes are absent.

Sean Hackel (’15) examined the microhabitat use of Anolis richardii, a common but introduced anole on Tobago. A. richardii is native in Grenada where it has a sympatric competitor (A. aeneus) and has been studied by others previously. Sean wanted to study the introduced population in Tobago to see if there was any evidence of niche expansion via competitive release. No conclusions on that yet but what a place to do his research. A beautiful lizard and a beautiful study site.

David Raines (’15) spent his days (and nights) in Tobago tracking the romantic encounters of Tobago glass frogs. David located many calling male glass frogs, measured them and their calling sites for a number of different variables. He assessed the question: do some males get more matings than others? If so, why? No definitive answers yet (more later), but we made a number of interesting observations on the behavior of this handsome frog and had fun doing it (well, except for when we tripped on the slick stream rocks and got a unexpected bath at 1 am).

Lastly, Levi Fawcett (’15) continued in a long tradition of students who have studied various aspects of the biology of the Bloody Bay poison frog (which is neither poisonous nor restricted to the Bloody Bay area). By taking numerous photos of captured frogs, Levi plans to assess geographic patterns in coloration patterns, which previous observations have suggested is closely similar to the local rock color patterns. These frogs are darned hard to catch, but thanks to Levi (and David’s) efforts, we now have over 200 individuals photographed from over 15 different populations (a good start!). Now Levi plans to sit in front of a computer for the next 6 weeks extracting coloration data from his photos. Have fun Levi!

 

In May, I spent three days in lovely Tulsa, Oklahoma attending the 6^th Conference on the Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders (http://plethodontids2014.weebly.com). These salamanders are the most diverse group of salamanders on Earth and the subject of some of my ongoing research. I presented a paper entitled “Multi-locus molecular evidence for widespread hybridization between the northern ravine salamander (Plethodon electromorphus) and the red-backed salamander (P. cinereus)”. This paper was co-authored with Wooster undergraduates Stuti Sharma (’16), E. Cassagnol (’09), H. Edgington (’10), M. Eyre (’13) and M. Stern (’14). In a nutshell, we’ve found evidence for extensive hybridization between these two species of woodland salamander here in north-eastern Ohio. There is so much gene flow between these two species, in fact, that we suspect that these two species may be merging back into one.

This was an intimate meeting with only ~ 100 attendees, allowing for many opportunities for interaction and conversation. Some of the foremost salamander researchers in North America were in attendance presenting on the ecology, evolution, behavior, anatomy, physiology and conservation of these fascinating animals.

The meeting happened to coincide with MayFest, a major art and music festival in Tulsa. At night we got to listen to some live music, enjoy great art and taste the food. While I didn’t give it a try, the deep-fried alligator looked…interesting.

This week a new paper appeared in the journal Ethology based on work that my students and I have been conducting on the Tobago glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium orientale). In this paper, Sara Green (current Wooster senior), Jessica Pringle (Wooster class of ’13) and I report on the adaptive value of male parental care in these frogs and how the form and function of this behavior changes seasonally. This was the result of three field seasons of work on the island of Tobago and incorporated data from Sara and Jessica’s undergraduate theses. Follow up studies are planned this coming summer to further examine variation in parental care in this species and also to investigate how females choose mates. Stay tuned for more revelations on the natural history of this handsome and interesting frog!

Citation:

Lehtinen, R.M., S.E. Green and J.L. Pringle. 2014. Impacts of paternal care and seasonal change on offspring survival: A multi-season experimental study of a Caribbean frog. Ethology 120: 400-409.

 

In December 2013, the Ohio Biological Survey published a massive tome on the amphibians of Ohio. This volume (899 pages!) covers all 40 species of frogs and salamanders to be found in the state. There are also sections on the history of herpetology in Ohio, habitats to find amphibians, taxonomic keys, amphibian conservation and other important topics. This is a very timely and significant contribution as it assesses the current state of our knowledge of these animals and indicates where significant gaps in our understanding remain. It is also a very attractive volume with lots of fabulous photographs.

I was fortunate enough to contribute one chapter to this excellent book (on the pickerel frog). This book will be the standard reference for these organisms in Ohio and adjacent states for many, many years. Kudos to the editors for a job well done and to the Ohio Biological Survey for supporting this important work!