Below are some descriptions of the research topics I'm currently working on, as well as some past projects. If you are interested in working on any of these topics, or other areas related to aquatic ecology, feel free to contact me to talk more about potential thesis projects and/or funding possibilities.
Phenology and species interactions
The timing of biological events, like bird migrations or frog calling, is changing for many species worldwide. I am investigating how such changes will impact the outcome of species interactions, such as competition or predation. I am focused on how changes in adult breeding and juvenile emigration of pond-breeding amphibians alters both intra- and interspecific interactions (see Anderson et al. 2017, Oecologia; Anderson et al. 2020, J o Zoology). Undergraduate and graduate (MS) students interested in this work should contact me for potential research opportunities, especially if they have an interest in experimental ecology.
Past work on phenology was partially supported by a SERDP grant, where several collaborators and I investigated how increasing phenological variation affected population dynamics, species interactions and management actions for four pond-breeding salamander species at military installations in Florida and Missouri. Our work in Missouri looked at how increasing variation in adult breeding and metamorph emigration phenology impacted larval and juvenile interactions, respectively, using ringed and marbled salamanders. We also monitored natural phenology patterns for both adults and juveniles of both species at Fort Leonard Wood, MO from 2017-2019. |
Facultative PaedomorphosisFacultative paedomorphosis is the expression of alternative adult phenotypes: aquatic (gilled) paedomorphic adults or terrestrial metamorphic adults (see picture to the right). Several studies have investigated the drivers of this polyphenism in experimental contexts, but few studies have examined the causes of the occurrence and abundance of paedomorphosis in natural populations for the focal species I study, the mole salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum). I have an ongoing long-term sampling program (2011-present) to document spatiotemporal variation in paedomorphosis in 20 ponds at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, KY. Several of the factors I am currently focusing on the role of intra- and interspecific (spotted salamander) larval competition (see Anderson and Whiteman 2015, Ecology; Anderson and Whiteman 2015, J of Animal Ecology) and habitat features (e.g., canopy cover). I also am interested in returning to do some mesocosm experiments with mole salamanders- contact met if you're an interested MS student that would want to work on eco-evolutionary questions in this system.
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Past Projects
Spatial Synchrony
During my post doc at Kansas, I worked on testing how different drivers influence spatial synchrony in abundance fluctuations between populations, and whether there is geographic structure in spatial synchrony. I also helped develop and test new quantitative methods for uncovering patterns of synchrony. I worked with long-term data sets from several different study systems, including freshwater plankton in within Kentucky Lake and white-tailed deer in Wisconsin. Current interests (albeit not very actively working them) are to examine synchrony in amphibian populations in several locations. Students interested in synchrony, quantitative ecology and/or computer programming (in R) should contact me about potential projects.
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Pond Community Structure
This project was initially developed by Ray Semlitsch, Lori Eggert, and Bill Peterman to investigate source-sink population dynamics of ringed and spotted salamanders at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Though the official project funded by the SERDP program was completed in 2014, we have continued to sample ponds for larval salamander abundance and size, and aquatic community composition. In doing so, we have a generated an extensive spatiotemporal data set (~200 ponds sampled over eight years), with which we will continue to investigate questions on habitat suitability and connectivity, mechanisms of population fluctuations, and community structure and diversity.
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