The Amphibian Foundation's Frog Blog

We had another successful October field trip to Constitution Lakes (Dekalb County, GA), this time with the Master Herpetologist students. Constitution Lakes is a fantastic urban site for an autumn field survey. Future Master Herpetologists, Anthony, and myself shared pictures for this article. #DipnetSelfie We found many adult Marbled Salamanders, but not as many nests as last year. Perhaps we haven't had enough rain yet in Atlanta to trigger a full migration. Most of the Fall 2019 Master Herpetologist group — geared up and ready for amphibian surveys. Alan had the distinction of finding the first Marbled Salamander of the survey. Marbled Salamanders ( Ambystoma opacum ) are a common species throughout most of their range, but not in Atlanta, where they were undoubtedly once common. Now, our community science surveys have only detected one population of the species in metro Atlanta, and that is at Constitution Lakes. For more information on Marbled Salamanders...

Congratulations to the Summer 2019 class of Master Herpetologists! Here we are at Sweetwater Creek State Park for our 'reptile' field trip (we found amphibians too). (L-R: Kevin, Ryan, DJ, Cassie, Shaundon, Erin (TA), Erin, Jennifer, Jessica, Brandon, Stephen, me, Anthony, Carol, Phillip, Michaela, and Sarah) Another semester of the Master Herpetologist program just came to a close, and we certified a group of talented Master Herpetologists. This course has been an exceptional experience for me, and a lot of fun — a great way to get to know other critter enthusiasts and advocates in the area. This semester, we also we lucky enough to have esteemed guest lecturers like John Jensen from GA DNR (now retired) introducing the course, giving a background of the reptiles and amphibians of Georgia, as well as state policies and regulations, Grover Brown from the University of Southern Mississippi talking about — turtles, of course, and Dr. Chris Jenkins of the Orianne Society ...

This past Saturday was the very first class, of the very first offering of the Master Herpetologist Program. This program is offered at the Amphibian Foundation and instructed by Foundation staff, as well as Zoo Atlanta and was started by an introductory class lead by state Herpetologist for GA DNR — John Jensen. John Jensen (DNR) leading the first class of the Master Herpetologist Program in the Amphibious AF Meeting Room at the Amphibian Foundation. John showing off one of our native salamander species — a Tiger Salamander ( Ambystoma tigrinum ) John Jensen showing off Georgia's rarest frog, the Gopher Frog ( Lithobates capito ) 'Vinnie' the house tortoise in the meeting room enjoyed all the company and wasn't oo distracting during class. Vinnie is a Cherry-head Redfoot Tortoise ( Chelonoidis carbonaria ) For moe information on the program, see the Master Herpetologist Program

The Fall 2018 Amphibian Biology Class from Agnes Scott outside of the Field Research Center at Blue Heron Nature Preserve. Here we our outside one of the mesocosms at the Amphibian Research and Conservation Center

The Agnes Scott Biology of Amphibians continuing education class had an incredible field outing yesterday when we joined Metro Atlanta Amphibian Monitoring Program (MAAMP) community scientist Kate Carson at a new field site in the hopes of detecting Marbled Salamanders ( Ambystoma opacum ). Jeff, Rob, Kate, Anna, Christian and Anthony on our urban expedition to find Marbled Salamanders. Earlier in the year, The Nature Conservancy inadvertently unearthed a Marbled Salamander while removing invasive plants from the park. They reached out to us at the Amphibian Foundation and we were able to confirm this was only the second confirmed sighting of the species since the MAAMP began in 2014. Marbled Salamanders are considered 'common' throughout most if its range, but have suffered significant declines in developed and urban regions, probably due to loss of their breeding and upland habitats. Ephemeral (temporary) wetland breeding amphibians only use the wetland for a few w...