Graduate Students
Jade Samples
M.S. Student
I am currently a Master’s student with the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. After receiving my B.S.F.R in Fisheries and Wildlife from the University of Georgia, I spent several seasons working as field technician and crew leader in research projects ranging from salamanders to bat ecology. I am interested in amphibians as bioindicators and improving management practices to help reverse the effects of habitat loss. My research at the Jones Center is focused on how amphibian and plant communities respond to wetland restoration. For my Master’s, I am investigating how certain restoration techniques can affect wetland biodiversity and specifically gopher frog population responses to restored isolated wetlands.
Sam Smith
PhD Student
My research interests largely revolve around spatial ecology, with an emphasis on animal movement. I am currently a PhD student at Clemson University where I am studying gopher tortoise movement and how movement changes following prescribed fire. Another component of my research is attempting to quantify how gopher tortoises promote functional connectivity for their commensal species through their burrows. Prior to starting my PhD, I worked as a biologist in south Florida where I worked on a variety of herp-centered projects. Before working in the Southeast, I completed my master’s in environmental biology at Suranaree University of Technology in Thailand, where I investigated the spatial ecology of Burmese pythons. My master’s research helped to shape my research interests and got me hooked on trying to understand where animals go and why. I look forward to contributing to what we know about gopher tortoise movement ecology and the ecosystem services they provide through the use of new technology and analyses
