Congratulations to Gustavo for winning a Parker Travel Grant for his work in the montane forests of Guatemala!

The Committee of the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research awarded Gustavo a grant in the amount of $5,000 in support of his proposed research with bromeliad-dwelling salamanders in Guatemala. Recipients of grants are known as Lewis and Clark Field Scholars. Congratulations Gustavo!

However, genetic and morphological analysis demonstrates these frogs belong to a different evolutionary lineage than Pristimantis phoxocephalus. The combination of their unique snout shape, bumpy skin texture, and specific color patterns allows scientists to definitively distinguish them from similar frogs found throughout Peru and Ecuador.
“The discovery of these new species underscores the importance of ongoing biodiversity research in the Andes,” said lab PI Catenazzi. “These fragile ecosystems harbor a wealth of unknown creatures, and further exploration is crucial for their conservation.”
FIU and the Instituto Peruano de Herpetologa are committed to ongoing research efforts that document and protect the remarkable biodiversity of the Andean cloud forests. Alessandro is the current Half-Earth Chair with the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.

Anne brilliantly defended her dissertation titled Investigating the effects of urbanization on the life history of an invasive amphibian. Her research investigated how urbanization and pollutants affect invasive Cuban tree frogs. She measured life history traits and telomere length (cellular aging marker) in frogs from different habitats and found no effect. She also tested the effects of carbon nanoparticles and microplastics on tadpole development and telomere length. Overall, Cuban tree frogs appear to be very resilient to the tested stressors. The study highlights the complexity of amphibian telomere dynamics and the need for further research on more amphibian species. Congrats Dr. Sabol!

The E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation named Alessandro as the next Half-Earth Chair, succeeding Dr. Piotr Naskrecki. The Half-Earth Chairs and Scholars program aims to support scientific research on biodiversity around the world. They achieve this by selecting experienced scientists (Chairs) to mentor and collaborate with emerging researchers (Scholars) in different regions. This program provides funding and fosters a global network of scientists dedicated to biodiversity conservation. Half-Earth Chairs & Scholars are nominated and selected by an Advisory Board of individuals with unique insight into global biodiversity science and conservation efforts.

Cara passed her qualifying exams today, after taking her written and oral exams, and is now a PhD candidate. Congratulations Cara!

Anne published one of the chapters of her dissertation, titled Carbon nitride dots do not impair the growth, development, and telomere length of tadpoles, in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The study investigated if carbon dots, nanoparticles with potential benefits, might harm wildlife if they enter wastewater. Tadpoles, sensitive to pollutants, were exposed to different carbon dot concentrations for an extended period, mimicking potential real-world exposure. The experiment found no negative effects on tadpole growth, development, or telomere length, suggesting carbon dots at these levels don't disrupt tadpole development. Congrats Anne!

Citation: Sabol, A., Y. Zhou, W. Zhang, B. C. L. B. Ferreira, J. Chen, R. M. Leblanc, A. Catenazzi. 2024. The impact of carbon nitride dots on the growth, development, and telomere length of tadpoles. Science of the Total Environment 916: 170176. 
doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170176

Gustavo presented a talk on his dissertation research titled Bromeligenous Amphibians in Suboptimal Habitats: A Case Study of Phyllodytes gyrinaethes and its Environmental Interactions ​during our annual Biosymposium at the BBC campus. 

Congrats to Jon for passing his qualifying exams! Jon is now a PhD candidate. 

​Anne presented at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2024 annual meeting in early January in Seattle, WA. She presented a poster about her work investigating the effects of microplastics on tadpoles titled “Investigating the impacts of microplastics as a potential vector for chemicals on tadpoles”.