Poplar Island

During Spring 2016 and Fall 2018 SU undergraduate students and I surveyed the herpetofauna of Poplar Island. Poplar Island is a currently being rebuilt and restored through a joint partnership between the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration with Maryland Environmental Service contracted to operate the site. Our surveys helped determine what herpetoauna have colonized the island during this restoration process. We will also conduct follow-up surveys in the future.

 

At right: Matthew Houlihan

Spotted turtle population dynamics and habitat preferences

With Dr. Eric Liebgold, graduate students Stephanie Lamb, Amanda Rocker, and Eaqan Chaudhry, and many undergraduate students, we are estimating population sizes and evaluating the population dynamics and habitat preferences of spotted turtles, an IUCN Red Listed species.

Ground-nesting warblers

With the help of many undergraduate students, Eric Liebgold (SU Biology) and I have been examining the effects of habitat variation, including variation caused by earthworms, on ground-nesting songbirds, namely Ovenbirds and Worm-eating Warblers.

 

Native and Invasive Earthworms

I use earthworms to examine the interactions of invasive species with native species and to determine how invasive earthworms influence community structure and diversity. In addition, I explore how earthworms, as ecosystem engineers, influenced the habitat of red-backed salamanders, one of the most abundant organism in the eastern forests of North America.

 

 

Photo credit: Laura Kintz and Dan Rearick

 

Salisbury University Student Research Conference (SUSRC)

Most students who complete semester-long projects present the results as an oral or poster presentation.

 

From left to right: Samantha Utt, Nicole Schiffler, and Danielle Ortmann present their Program MARK results on painted turtles.

Frosted Elfins

In Summer 2018, I co-mentored SU undergraduate student Karsin Bachran with MD DNR Invertebrate Ecologist, Jen Selfridge in a partnership with SU, MD DNR, and the Salisbury Zoo. The goal of the study was to determine if frosted elfin caterpillars pupate beneath the soil or in the leaf litter layer as this has implications for prescribed burning in the area and for frosted elfins, which are listed as endangered in the state of Maryland.