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In a small archipelago of Panama, something remarkable has happened: change. The Archipelago of Bocas de Toro is home to the strawberry poison dart frog. Over the last several thousand years, this tiny frog has evolved into 15 different polymorphs (or forms) throughout the region, each possessing a different pattern and color ranging from red, to blue, to green, and even to black and white. UMBC marine, estuarine and environmental sciences master’s student Afsheen Siddiqi is carefully investigating this transformation.

The naturally bright color of the original strawberry poison dart frog is a form of self-protection. “They’re saying to the predator, don’t eat me, because I’m bad for you!” says Siddiqi. Among this particular species, says Siddiqi, “the variation is very extreme – more than you would find elsewhere.” The question is, with the frog displaying such a wide range of colors and patterns throughout different parts of the archipelago, how does this variability affect its detectability? Will birds (and other possible predators) still be able to see and detect the toxicity of each frog, as revealed by its coloring? To explore this, Siddiqi looked at several factors, including visual ability among both poison dart frogs and birds, as well as the background of a frog’s habitat versus its own coloring and patterning. “I’m looking, not really at how this morph has evolved, but at how effective the colors are,” says Siddiqi.

Using a mathematical model, Siddiqi has looked at the 15 different polymorphs of the strawberry poison dart frog. Most of her research has involved to charting how effectively birds recognize the various polymorphs. She determined that birds, which have better vision than poison-dart frogs, are often able to discriminate, or detect the frogs. In particular, discrimination was very high for the original strawberry poison dart frog, suggesting that the original form of the species was well-adapted to its environment. In fact, all of the polymorphs appear to have high populations in the archipelago, regardless of whether or not they are detectable by birds. Possibly this is because the frog’s natural predators are actuality still unknown; birds, as well as tarantulas, are just two of many possibilities. “All the poison dart frogs do pretty well - it’s not really known what eats these frogs. Apparently, they’re very bold!” says Siddiqi, recalling how frogs will fearlessly approach humans in the wild

Siddiqi became interested in UMBC largely because of her mentor and advisor, Tom Cronin. Cronin, the head of UMBC’s Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Sciences Program, had done field research on Panama’s poison dart frogs and his research greatly interested Siddiqi when she visited. She was able to choose an advisor before attending a program and quickly found her match with Cronin. “He’s definitely been instrumental throughout my studies,” says Siddiqi. “For example, when I was constructing images of frogs as seen through the visual systems of frogs and birds, he developed two of the programs that I used – he’s very good with computer programs.”

Siddiqi graduated with her master’s this summer. She is presently working as a teaching assistant in her department while simultaneously preparing her thesis work for publication in a scientific journal. As far as future plans, Siddiqi wishes to continue doing conservation research within the environmental field. “I'd like to be actively working with ecology,” she says.