New England Frogs Research Paper

New England is home to some of the harshest winters. In the winter, most species either move away for the winter or hibernate because their habitat usually frozen over. After observing what happens during these winters, I’ve wondered what happens to frogs. Do they hibernate or do they somehow move away for the winter or do they somehow stay alive under the ice in lakes and ponds? I decided to research frogs in New England and see what happens to them in the winter. The observational question I came up with it, how have frogs adapted and learned to cope with harsh New England winters? After researching frogs, I learned that the species has adapted over time and learned to survive the winters not only here in New England, but in other cold climates.

The first experiment would be the most simple. In the fall before frogs start to hibernate, collect different species of frogs. In a lab you could then set up and experiment. You could simulate the winter by lowering the temperatures the frogs are living in during the lab. Then set up a few different tanks such as one with just water in it and leaves at the bottom, one with just leaves covering the bottom and one with rocks and logs. After that, you could then simulate a winter and see what the different species of frogs do to survive the cold. By just observing which species of frogs go where, it is possible to get an idea of how they hibernate in the wild during the winter. The second experiment would be a little tougher. It would involve actually going out in the winter and physically looking for frogs to see where they hibernate. With research already done, you could determine roughly where different species of frogs go in the winter. Some of the places that should be observed are rocky areas; especially between the rocks, under piles of leaves and in the muddy areas around ponds and lakes. It would be difficult to observe which frogs are swimming down at the bottom of the ponds and lakes because they would probably be frozen over. This is why this experiment would be the harder of the