Research in the Breitman Lab is focused on (1) exploring the biodiversity and urban ecology of reptiles and amphibians in the Southeastern USA Coastal Plains ecoregion (US EPA Level II Ecoregion 8.3.5), (2) providing AUM undergraduate students with authentic faculty-led research experiences, and (3) 'next-generation teaching'--designing and implementing scientifically based teaching and peer-mentoring approaches for different class/lab settings.
Our main herpetology project is focused on developing a Long-Term Ecological Research Experiment (LTERE) to monitor reptile and amphibian communities in the AUM Forest (a 250-acre secondary forest on campus). We are expanding this project to other urban forests in our area and using this project to engage with the River Region community. To accomplish our goals for undergraduate research experiences (UREs) and science education research, we implement UREs in different formats (individual, CUREs) and the PI is involved in developing the 'Flight School' tiered peer-mentoring framework.</p>Our laboratory has spaces located on the first floor of the Goodwyn Hall Life Sciences Annex and behind the Science Research facility on the AUM campus in Montgomery, AL.