New England’s forests are experiencing multifaceted environmental changes—including climate warming, habitat fragmentation, and altered hydrology—that collectively threaten wildlife populations and ecosystem function. This project investigates wildlife responses across two distinct but complementary systems: (1) terrestrial salamanders, which are sensitive indicators of forest-floor conditions, and (2) keystone mammals (coyotes and beavers), whose movements and interactions shape landscape-level ecology. By integrating experimental and observational approaches, we aim to uncover how species adapt to interacting stressors and how their responses may influence broader forest dynamics. Based on this setup, the project has two sub-projects that we detail in the following:
SUBPROJECT 1 - Integrated Effects of Soil Warming, Fragmentation, and Drought on Salamander Ecology
• Primary Mentors: David Marsh & Ahmed Siddig
This sub-project examines how multiple climate-associated stressors—soil warming, forest fragmentation, and drought—affect the population dynamics, behavior, and physiology of the Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus). We will leverage two long-term experimental platforms at Harvard Forest: the Soil Warming Plots (LTER) and the CLIFF fragmentation experiment. Research questions include:
1. How do elevated soil temperatures and reduced moisture interact to influence salamander abundance, body condition, growth, and reproduction?
2. Does habitat fragmentation alter thermal and hydric refugia, and how does this affect salamander distribution across forest edges?
3. How do shifts in invertebrate prey communities under warming and drought cascade to affect salamander foraging and energy balance?
• Methods will include nighttime mark-recapture surveys and morning cover board observation in warmed vs. control plots; salamander and arthropod sampling across fragmentation and drought treatments; microclimate monitoring using automated sensors; and lab-based processing of specimens. Students will gain experience in experimental field design, amphibian handling, invertebrate identification, and microclimate data analysis. This integrated approach will provide a more realistic understanding of how salamanders respond to concurrent stressors in changing forests.
SUBPROJECT 2 - Tracking Keystone Kin at Harvard Forest
• Primary Mentor: Lisa Brooks
Both eastern coyotes and beavers have been described as “keystone species,” but what happens when we think about them in relationship, both to each other and to the many beings who depend on them? What if we think of them not only as separate species but as keystone kin? What can we learn from their kinship dynamics, how they learn and adapt as families in particular places?
This sub-project uses non-invasive tracking, trail cameras, and potentially GIS mapping to study the adaptive behaviors of eastern coyotes and beavers—two keystone species whose interactions influence wetland and forest ecosystems. Student participants will contribute to an ongoing project focused on the eastern coyotes who inhabit and travel through beaver-created wetlands on Harvard Forest lands, through non-invasive use of tracking and trail cameras. We will document the travel patterns, communication, and subsistence sources of eastern coyotes, as well as the constructions of beavers, paying close attention to the relationship between them. This work has the potential to contribute to understandings of coyote and beaver adaptation to the impacts of climate change, including flooding and drought. Students will:
1. Document coyote movement, communication, and use of beaver-engineered habitats.
2. Monitor beaver activity and structural adaptations to changing water availability.
3. Map spatial relationships between coyote rendezvous sites and beaver wetlands.
Methods include field tracking, camera trapping, behavioral observation, historical research in the Harvard Forest archives, and potentially spatial analysis.
General requirements:
- Experience/ability to trek 2-4 miles off-trail with a day pack and a desire to be in marshes, swamps and forested lands for long periods of time (from several hours to a full day).
- Tolerance for wet ground conditions and high humidity.
- Comfort with working solo outdoors.
- Curiosity and willingness to learn.
- A lack of squeamishness (tracking may include examining scat and animal remains in a safe, sterile manner)
- Both STEM and humanities students are encouraged to apply.
Gade, M. R., Gould, P. R., Wilk, A. J., Donlon, K. C., Brown, M. L., Behan, M. L., ... & Peterman, W. E. (2023). Demography and space?use of Eastern Red?backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) between mature and successional forests. Ecology and Evolution, 13(1), e9764.
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Siddig, A. A. H., A. M. Ellison, and A. Ochs*. 2019. Do terrestrial salamanders indicate ecosystem changes in New England forests? Forests 2019, 10, 154. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10020154
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