Amphibian Habitat Research: Dr. Timothy O. Matson

Timothy O. Matson, Ph.D., Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Museum conducted a 2007 spring lab study at Squire Valleyvue farm.

This study is to answer the questions that have developed from his 2006 pond study – to see if metals were a contributing factor in the decline of the Jefferson salamander. Other contributing factors that he was aware of include predation by the Marbled Salamander and drought.

In this study, he looked at 4 metals: aluminum, copper, iron, and zinc in two levels of water hardness (for that he studied the levels of calcium and magnesium) and at 2 different pH's both acidic and alkaline. In all, he had 47 different treatments. This included 4 repetitions of each treatment plus the control.

He conducted his 2006 pond study to answer some of questions from his 10-year drift study at Indian Point Metropark in Lake County. In the drift study, he looked at community population dynamics of 3 groups of salamanders over a 10-year period. In that study, he found that the spotted salamander population decreased but the slope wasn't significant. The population of the marbled salamander hadn't changed, and the Jefferson salamander was extirpated from that site.