In the Spring of 2012, students from Masuk High School in Monroe, CT, will begin a research project at the Discovery Zone across its 171 acres and seventeen vernal pools with oversight from Dr. Anton ('Twan') Leenders, Conservation Biologist for The Connecticut Audubon.
The study will initially focus on disturbances in the habitat of spotted salamanders and the resulting impacts to the patterns of their symmetrical spots. The student researchers will also be screening
amphibians for the chytrid fungus which has been spreading to frogs throughout Connecticut.
Recorded data gathered by the student researchers will be used by state experts to help them better understand how impacts to wetland habitats affect amphibians throughout Connecticut to detect when the balance of nature has been upset and the causal factors.
Equipment and supplies for this research project are primarily furnished by the Discovery Zone.
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