Studies in amphibian ecology and conservation: Fowler's Toad as a model system

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Rapid changes in biodiversity and environmental conditions throughout the globe make it essential to perfect our abilities to predict how animals and plants will respond. This calls upon us to better understand both the small scale eco-evolutionary dynamic processes, such as growth and dispersal, that operate directly on and within wild populations over short time frames and the large scale, long-term processes of ecosystem change in which these are embedded. My approach to ecological research is to develop a deep understanding of wild populations based on data collected in the field and use that knowledge as the springboard for testing general theories about biological diversity, variation, and distribution. The animals I use for this work are amphibians, which have many properties that make them amenable for ecological studies, and which are also threatened to an unprecedented degree worldwide. With comprehensive understanding of the ecologies of particular species once again at the forefront of contemporary research in conservation ecology, I will continue to concentrate on the Fowler's Toads, Anaxyrus fowleri, at Long Point, Ontario, as a productive model study system. Because I can raise tadpoles experimentally both in mesocosms and in semi-natural enclosures, identify all individual toads throughout their postmetamorphic lives, and have 30 years of intensively collected abundance, growth and movement data to draw upon, I am able to address many fundamental ecological questions, using Fowler's Toads as the model, to a degree practically unequaled among studies of amphibians. Planned projects at the population level include interspecific competition and ecosystem effects in amphibian larvae, camouflage colouration as an anti-predator strategy in relation to noxiousness, age and/or size specific selection, and quantification of immigration rates between putative subpopulations based on movements of known individuals. On the basis of an increasingly refined comprehension of amphibian populations stemming from my work, I will collaborate with North American and European colleagues to approach a greater synthesis of understanding about the dynamics, distribution, and persistence of animal populations at larger scales. This research program will provide considerable opportunity for training highly qualified personnel and will contribute to an ever more complete picture of the ecology of animal populations and the complexities of their responses to environmental change.