I began research under the direction of Dr. Christopher A. Phillips on the dynamics of a pond-breeding Ambystoma assemblage in west central Illinois. The assemblage consisted of four species, Spotted Salamander (A. maculatum), Marbled Salamander (A. opacum), Silvery Salamander (A. platineum), and Small-Mouthed Salamander (A. texanum). It was a collaborative effort that included Jennifer Mui’s thesis and focused on the timing of migration, population sizes, the directionality of migration, and factors affecting emigration of metamorphs. Other collaborators that worked on the project were Dr. Johnathan A. Crawford, Dr. Jarret R. Johnson, and Andrew R. Kuhns.
