Christina began working in the lab in the Spring of 2015 conducting surveys of potential impacts of construction and urbanization on the Blanding’s Turtle and Spotted Turtle within the Des Plaines River Valley. Her project focused on the Spotted Turtle populations in Illinois and added additional ecological data to the existing base. Her thesis comprised three major aspects of the Spotted Turtle’s ecology. First, she used long-term data collected to determine if there are population-level trends in size, recruitment rates, survival, and population structure. Next, she examined the demography and life history of the species focusing on deterministic forecasting and elasticity/sensitivity analysis. Her data will be used to guide conservation and recovery efforts for this imperiled species in Illinois. Christina is currently working as a Natural Heritage Biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.