Michelle Gooch

Department of Biology
Davidson College

Davidson, NC

My name is Michelle Gooch and I am a senior Biology major at Davidson College. I have been involved in herpetology research for the past year now, as both a student researcher and technician in Dr. Michael Dorcas's herpetology lab. As well as conducting research on anuran calling behavior, I coordinate outreach projects for local schools and community organizations, such as Boy Scouts. Along with other members of the herpetology lab, I present talks on herpetology and conservation to kids, always bringing animals from the lab so that the kids can have a chance to interact with and understand reptiles and amphibians first-hand. One example of an outreach project that we have organized is the Catwaba River Corridor Coverboard Program, which allows both kids and adults at schools, businesses, and nature preserves to take part in research and conservation of reptiles and amphibians at their own sites. I am also helping to facilitate a wetlands creation project on the Davidson College Ecological Preserve. For more information on my research, see below!

Abstract-- Recent global declines in amphibian populations have created an urgent need for large-scale, long-term monitoring efforts and many anuran monitoring programs have been established that utilize volunteer-based calling surveys. Calling surveys can be effective monitoring tools; however, differences among survey protocols often bias survey results. Failure to take into account detection probabilities when monitoring anurans can lead to inaccurate inferences about site occupancy, since non-detections in survey data do not necessarily mean that a species is absent unless the probability of detection is 1. We used a likelihood-based method, in the form of the computer program PRESENCE, to estimate detection probabilities and site occupancy rates for summer-breeding anurans. Using detection data from calling-surveys, we evaluated how detectability and site occupancy for 5 anuran species were influenced by 1) time spent listening at each site and 2) number of surveys per site. We found considerable variation among species with regards to detection probability and site occupancy across time and survey period. Longer surveys resulted in more species detections; 13% of all species detections occurred after 3 minutes. We also found that detectability could be overestimated for short surveys due to the added number of sites where a species was detected with longer surveys, resulting in underestimates of site occupancy. Multiple surveys per site within a season that are longer than 3 minutes are necessary to eliminate biased detection probabilities and provide truer estimates of site occupancy. Our results emphasize the importance of evaluating detection probabilities for any long-term monitoring project.

This paper was the combined result of a summer research project carried out with Aubrey Heupel of Iowa State University and my research for the class Investigations in Herpetology in the fall of 2004. The paper will be submitted for publication some time in the spring of 2005. I will be presenting this research in the form of a poster at the 66th annual meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists in April, 2005.

Some more info on frog calling surveys:

What are frog calling surveys?

Calling surveys involve researchers or volunteers listening at predefined sites for frog calls for a specified length of time. Listeners record the species that they hear calling at each site, and attempt to assign each species an abundance index. Different species of frogs have very unique calls! Male frogs call in order to attract mates. For examples of frog calls, and to learn about the different frogs and toads found in North Carolina, visit the Frogs and Toads of North Carolina page of the Davidson Herpetology lab website. Take the quiz at the bottom of the page to test your knowledge!

How can calling surveys increase our knowledge of frogs or help with conservation efforts?

Calling surveys are very effective ways to assess a variety of species' habitat needs and sensitivities to anthropogenic disturbances (such as development and/or pollution). Since frogs are very hard to find using simple visual-search techniques, calling surveys allow researchers to determine whether or not a species inhabits a particular pond or wetland through auditory sampling. Frog calls are very loud, especially in relation to frogs' small size, and so are good indicators of a species presence or absence. By performing multiple, routine calling surveys at a variety of sites, researches can monitor population trends and relate the trends to the amount of urbanization, forest, and other habitat variables surrounding the sites. Some ponds or wetlands can be monitored both before and after development occurs, providing valuable information pertaining to the effects of the development on frog populations.

Further Research

During the Spring of 2005, I will be working with Michelle Kirlin, another student in the herpetology lab, to determine the effects of weather variables on winter and spring breeding frogs. We will be conducting more calling surveys similar to those conducted in the summer of 2004, using most of the same ponds that were used previously. Rather than focusing on the effects of urbanization on frog populations, we will be examining the influence that temperature, cloud cover, and air moisture have on frog detectability. We will be using an automated recording device (frog-logger) at one pond. The frog-logger will record all vocalizing anurans at 30-minute intervals for 30 seconds at a time. Hopefully, this will pick up all species that are present (and calling) at the pond. We will then use data obtained from the frog-logger to create models in PRESENCE that will tell us what effects weather variables have on frog detectability. These models can be applied to the data obtained from calling surveys at different ponds and will be used to test and compare detection probabilities and site occupancy among ponds and for different species.

My other interests:

At Davidson, I am involved with the Methodist College Fellowship, BioSociety, and the Environmental Action Coalition. I also volunteer as a Youth Leader at Davidson United Methodist Church. Until very recently, I have competed with my horses in the sport of three-day eventing, an Olympic equestrian discipline involving three phases- dressage, cross country, and show-jumping. My horses were Emmett, a Thoroughbred/Clydesdale cross, and Rocky, an Irish Sport horse who was bred at Windfall Farm, where I have been a working student for Nanci Lindroth on and off for the past 8 years. With Emmett I competed up through Intermediate and the CCI** level, completing the North American Young Riders Championships, CCI*, in 2001 and Camino Real Three-Day Event, CCI**, in 2002. With Rocky I competed up through the Preliminary level.

I also love the outdoors and recently became WAFA/WFR certified. I hope to teach kids about the environment in a wilderness setting for a year (or two?) following graduation, hopefully instilling in them an appreciation for all of the creatures, great and small, as well as the diverse habitats that are found on the Earth and that are quickly becoming degraded due to human influences. I think that environmental education is one of the most important tools for conservation.

Lastly, I love to travel! I have studied abroad in Dunedin, New Zealand, where I did environmental chemistry research, and Kenya (with the School for Field Studies), where I researched and learned about Wildlife Management. During this upcoming Spring Break I will be traveling to Nicaragua with a group from Davidson to participate in a "reverse mission trip". We will be living and working with the poor and oppressed in Managua, the capital city, as well as accompanying those who devote their lives to social empowerment projects and hearing speakers from all walks of life.

Elephants in Amboseli National Park, Kenya