Our Focus:
The work of our group is directed at understanding the ecology of wetland ecosystems and amphibians and reptiles and quantifying impacts of humans' activities on them. Our overall goal is to develop and aid in the implementation of achievable and practicable solutions that will protect biodiversity but allow for management activities in natural areas. Much of our research is done in national parks and preserves in the United States, China, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Lab News:
October 2020: Congratulations to Ryan for the publication of his first paper in Global Ecology and Conservation on road mortality in a national park in Indonesia. This was from Ryan's undergraduate research!
September 2020: Welcome Chloe Johnson and Ryan Healey, who join our lab as M.S. students. Chloe will likely study wood turtles in Rhode Island and Ryan will study salamanders in New Mexico.
June 2020: Nancy takes off for New Mexico for summer research. Lesley and Ryan will join to help with field work in light of covid-limited hiring of undergraduates. Huge thanks to Lesley and Ryan!
March 2020: Nancy heads to Arizona and Utah with her colleague, David Fastovsky, to teach a field course on Geology and Ecology of the Colorado Plateau.
December 2019: Congratulations to Felicia for her new paper in PLOS One on cold stunning in sea turtles!
September 2019: Welcome Carolyn Decker, a new M.Sc. student, to the group! Carolyn will be determining the importance of upland habitats for overwintering diamondback terrapin hatchlings and developing protective land management guidelines in partnership with the Barrington Land Conservation Trust.
June 2019: Three URI students, Nancy, and two other research assistants launch the 2019 season of the Jemez Mountains salamander. Rain dances, everyone!
23 May 2019: Happy World Turtle Day!
13-15 May 2019: Official launch of Operation Spadefoot RI! My graduate students and I, other URI staff and students, and a team of other conservation partners, built two new breeding pools for the state endangered eastern spadefoot toad, under the guidance of famed wetland restoration ecologist Tom Biebighauser. Only one breeding population is known to remain in the state and our new pools are within hopping distance. More pools to follow!
5 May 2019: We welcome Noah Hallisey as a MSc student to the lab. Noah is developing and validating a model that predicts hotspots and coldspots of road mortality for amphibians and reptiles for the state of Rhode Island.
5 April 2019: Dr. Donna Shaver, Chief of the Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery for the National Park Service is visiting this week and giving a seminar today on her decades-long efforts for recovery of the Kemp's ridley sea turtle.
27 March 2019: Sengvilay successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation and submitted her first manuscript. When she returns as Lecturer to National University of Laos, she will do so as the country's first ever turtle biologist. Congratulations Seng!
4 January 2019: Happy New Year! Nancy and Tom Boving are off to teach their fifth consecutive iteration of Geology, Hydrology, and Biodiversity in Indonesia. This year we go to Rawa Aopa Watomohai National Park in South East Sulawesi with 18 URI students.
December 2018: Congrats to Scott Buchanan for a new paper in Journal of Wildlife Management, Occupancy of Freshwater Turtles Across a Gradient of Altered Landscapes. Great job Scott!
Congrats to Felicia Page for being awarded the URI EGRA Grant!
August 2018: Nancy returns from summer research on Plethodon neomexicanus high in the mountains of Valles Caldera National Preserve in NM. She may have done a little camping and fly fishing, too.
June 2018: All hail the new RI State Herpetologist - Dr. Scott Buchanan!
May 2018: Nancy returns from sabbatical leave research on Cuora amboinensis in Rawa Aopa Watomohai National Park in South East Sulawesi, Indonesia.
September 2020: Welcome Chloe Johnson and Ryan Healey, who join our lab as M.S. students. Chloe will likely study wood turtles in Rhode Island and Ryan will study salamanders in New Mexico.
June 2020: Nancy takes off for New Mexico for summer research. Lesley and Ryan will join to help with field work in light of covid-limited hiring of undergraduates. Huge thanks to Lesley and Ryan!
March 2020: Nancy heads to Arizona and Utah with her colleague, David Fastovsky, to teach a field course on Geology and Ecology of the Colorado Plateau.
December 2019: Congratulations to Felicia for her new paper in PLOS One on cold stunning in sea turtles!
September 2019: Welcome Carolyn Decker, a new M.Sc. student, to the group! Carolyn will be determining the importance of upland habitats for overwintering diamondback terrapin hatchlings and developing protective land management guidelines in partnership with the Barrington Land Conservation Trust.
June 2019: Three URI students, Nancy, and two other research assistants launch the 2019 season of the Jemez Mountains salamander. Rain dances, everyone!
23 May 2019: Happy World Turtle Day!
13-15 May 2019: Official launch of Operation Spadefoot RI! My graduate students and I, other URI staff and students, and a team of other conservation partners, built two new breeding pools for the state endangered eastern spadefoot toad, under the guidance of famed wetland restoration ecologist Tom Biebighauser. Only one breeding population is known to remain in the state and our new pools are within hopping distance. More pools to follow!
5 May 2019: We welcome Noah Hallisey as a MSc student to the lab. Noah is developing and validating a model that predicts hotspots and coldspots of road mortality for amphibians and reptiles for the state of Rhode Island.
5 April 2019: Dr. Donna Shaver, Chief of the Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery for the National Park Service is visiting this week and giving a seminar today on her decades-long efforts for recovery of the Kemp's ridley sea turtle.
27 March 2019: Sengvilay successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation and submitted her first manuscript. When she returns as Lecturer to National University of Laos, she will do so as the country's first ever turtle biologist. Congratulations Seng!
4 January 2019: Happy New Year! Nancy and Tom Boving are off to teach their fifth consecutive iteration of Geology, Hydrology, and Biodiversity in Indonesia. This year we go to Rawa Aopa Watomohai National Park in South East Sulawesi with 18 URI students.
December 2018: Congrats to Scott Buchanan for a new paper in Journal of Wildlife Management, Occupancy of Freshwater Turtles Across a Gradient of Altered Landscapes. Great job Scott!
Congrats to Felicia Page for being awarded the URI EGRA Grant!
August 2018: Nancy returns from summer research on Plethodon neomexicanus high in the mountains of Valles Caldera National Preserve in NM. She may have done a little camping and fly fishing, too.
June 2018: All hail the new RI State Herpetologist - Dr. Scott Buchanan!
May 2018: Nancy returns from sabbatical leave research on Cuora amboinensis in Rawa Aopa Watomohai National Park in South East Sulawesi, Indonesia.