I joined the Warkentin lab in 2002 and am a 7th year graduate student at Boston University. I defended my dissertation in April 2009. My research interests include, in a general sense, predator-prey interactions, developmental plasticity, aquatic ecology, amphibian biology and speciation.
I am currently motivated by questions which explore how abiotic and biotic factors of the environment affect how amphibian eggs, larvae and adults interact with their world around them. To that end, I have conducted my dissertation research in Panama at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
My research in Panama (described in greater detail here) has been exploring, primarily, how the eggs and larvae of Hyla ebraccata, the pantless treefrog, are affected by various factors of the environment around them.
To keep busy back in Boston during the spring, Ivan Gomez-Mestre, Karen Warkentin and I have been studying how eggs of Bufo americanus, Rana sylvatica, and Ambystoma maculatum respond to infection from a pathogenic water mold that lives in vernal pools. Find out more here.
When not working in the warm and pleasant tropics or the cold and unpleasant New England springs, I enjoy spending my time getting out of doors as much as possible. Hiking, snowboarding, snowshoeing, biking, running, etc. I love all of the above. I guess that about wraps it up for now. Drop me a line if you feel so inclined. jtouchon@bu.edu. Have a nice day.
