Mentor: Tereza Jezkova, Ph.D.

Ambystoma barbouri, or the streamside salamander, is morphologically identical to the smallmouth salamander. However, they lay eggs in two entirely different ways. Ambystoma barbouri lay their eggs in places such as ditches, streams, and vernal pools. When the eggs are laid, they often have a 'glue' like substance holding them to the rock, but not always. The question we have posed is 'What is this glue-like substance?'. There has been little previous research on this subject. It remains unclear what the substance consists of and if humans could potentially replicate it. We used EDTA testing to determine if there is a metallic bond within the substance. To investigate this, we used EDTA solutions of 0.25 M and 0.50 M on rocks, metal, and grasses on which the eggs were stuck to measure the strength and possibility of metallic bonds. After two rounds of EDTA, the following results were obtained.

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