The Alabama Amphibian Network is a collaborative partnership between the University of Alabama, ALAPARC, Legacy Partners in Environmental Education, and environmental education centers (EE centers) throughout Alabama. The operational portion of the network consists of EE centers that are participating in a statewide citizen science program aimed at increasing amphibian awareness in the public eye, as well as increasing our knowledge of amphibian distributions throughout the state. Both public awareness and basic distributional knowledge of amphibians are surprisingly low in Alabama, and the Alabama Amphibian Network’s primary goal is to improve both areas.

Participating EE centers in the Alabama Amphibian Network use identical arrays of coverboards and PVC “treefrog shelters” to sample amphibians in their educational programs. These are tools used by practicing herpetologists to sample amphibians in the field, allowing students to gain hands-on experience with both amphibians and scientific research during educational programs at participating centers. EE partners report data on amphibians quarterly to the amphibian network and ALAPARC, where they are stored for future research on population trends and species distributions in Alabama. EE centers have been selected from all regions of Alabama to thoroughly sample its amphibian diversity and to provide outreach to all demographic groups.

For a list of participating centers and more detailed information, click on the links below (links coming soon):

• The network

• Sampling tools and premise

• Results and photos