Student Summer Internships at the Yale Peabody Museum

Research Project: Vertebrate Zoology—Herpetology

Mentor: David K. Skelly
Professor of Ecology, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies; Curator of Vertebrate Zoology (Herpetology), Yale Peabody Museum
david.skelly@yale.edu | Skelly Lab Website
Division of Vertebrate Zoology Herpetology Website

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Reproductive Deformities in Amphibians
Recent field work in Connecticut has revealed that frogs experience abnormal reproductive development at rates far higher than has been supposed. In particular, we have discovered that roughly 1 in 8 male green frogs have eggs in their testes. Prevalence varies strongly across the landscape. We have found no deformities in forested environments and the highest rates (about 1 in 5 males) in suburban and urban neighborhoods.

We plan to follow up on this research by exploring whether local waste management practices (municipal sewer versus on-site septic treatment) affect deformity rates. The research will involve a combination of field and laboratory work, including identifying field sites, collecting animals, histological preparation of tissue, and microscopy. The specimens collected will become part of the Peabody’s herpetological collection. The work will culminate in a jointly authored, peer-reviewed manuscript.

To Apply

Interested? Send a one- to two-page project description, along with a letter of support from the mentor of this research project, to the internship program coordinator:

Eric Lazo-Wasem
Senior Collections Manager
Division of Invertebrate Zoology
Peabody Museum of Natural History
Yale University
P.O. Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520-8118 USA

203.432.3784
Fax 203.432.9816
eric.lazo-wasem@yale.edu


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