McGill University
Ph.D. candidate
Supervisor: David Green
Start: 2017-09-01
End: 2024-04-30
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Project

The influence of toad tadpoles on the environment
My current research in the Green Lab at McGill University focuses on the effect of tadpoles on their immediate environment. The Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) is an endangered species in Long Point, Ontario. In the summer of 2017, for the first time in at least 30 years, there were no Fowler's toad tadpoles in Long Point. Although ephemeral, tadpoles make up a large amount of the biomass in ponds. I am interested in how this sudden lack of tadpoles could affect the fishless pond ecosystems that are accustomed to their presence. My research focuses on changes in zooplankton composition, phytoplankton biomass, and water chemistry with the presence or absence of tadpoles both in artificial mesocosms and comparable natural ponds. Both the tadpoles of the Fowler's toad and the more abundant American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) will be studied, and the effects of the two species on their immediate environment will be compared. I will also examine if the effect on the environment differs when the two species of tadpoles are together or apart. While many studies look at the effects of external factors on tadpoles, very few examine how tadpoles shape their environment. My research will hopefully help us to better understand the consequences of losing tadpoles in a pond ecosystem, an issue that is ever pressing with the global amphibian decline.

Keywords

Tadpoles, Toads, herpetology, ecosystems, food webs, mesocosms

Publications

1- Inter‐annual variation in amphibian larval interspecies interactions
Ford, Jessica, David M. Green
2023 Ecology and Evolution

2- Ontogenetic change in the effectiveness of camouflage: growth versus pattern matching in Fowler's toad
Barnett, James B., Jessica Ford, Eric Guerra-Grenier, Nathalie Jreidini, Jihane Benbahtane, David M. Green
2023 Animal Behaviour

3- Promoting equity and inclusion with student-driven initiatives
Ford, Jessica, Nathalie Jreidini, Kirsten E. Crandall, Sarah Sanderson, Charles C.Y. Xu
2021 Trends in Ecology & Evolution

4- Adrift on a Sea of Troubles: Can Amphibians Survive in a Human-Dominated World?1
Ford, Jessica, David A.G.A. Hunt, Grant E. Haines, Micaela Lewis, Yael Lewis, David M. Green
2020 Herpetologica