UDIE Research Group

UDIE Research Group We are an Undergraduate-focused research group at UCF focusing on exploring the disease ecology of reptiles and amphibians.

Last but certainly not least, meet our PI, Dr. Matthew Scot Atkinson! 🥼Matt leads UDIE and is a lecturer at UCF, with re...
09/17/2026

Last but certainly not least, meet our PI, Dr. Matthew Scot Atkinson! 🥼

Matt leads UDIE and is a lecturer at UCF, with research focused on reptile and amphibian ecology, disease, and conservation. His work has included studying Perkinsea, invasion biology, urban ecology, and how environmental change affects herpetofaunal populations.

A big part of what he does now is mentor students and help guide the projects happening across the lab. Outside of UCF, you can usually find him herping, watching UGA football, at a theme park or race event, or at home with his wife and three Labs!

There’s a lot more behind our research than what you see in the field.🐸Our amphibian project leads are working to better...
09/17/2026

There’s a lot more behind our research than what you see in the field.🐸

Our amphibian project leads are working to better understand the species, diseases, and environmental factors shaping amphibian populations across Florida. From field surveys to disease sampling and habitat data, each project looks at a different piece of the bigger picture.👉

undergradresearch

Project Title- Pondemic: Mapping Amphibian Perkinsea Across Central Florida Wetlands

Project Title- A Comparative Analysis of Stress and Immunomodulation in Native and Non-Native Cane
Toads (Rhinella horribilis)

Project Title- Understanding Perkinsea infections dynamics in constructed wetlands to understand the potential for disease mitigation

Project Title- Linking environmental associates and co-infections to mass mortality events in tadpoles of the federally endangered Dusky Gopher Frog (Lithobates sevosus)

Our reptile project leads are working to better understand how reptiles respond to their environments, the threats they ...
09/17/2026

Our reptile project leads are working to better understand how reptiles respond to their environments, the threats they face/pose, and the role they play in the ecosystems around them.🐍🦎

Through field surveys and trapping to health assessments, movement, and conservation research, each project explores a different part of reptile ecology.👉



Project Title- Fragmentation of Fragile Breaths: Determining the Presence and Prevalence of Mycoplasma Infections in the Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) populations present across a gradient of anthropogenic alteration on the University of Central Florida’s Campus 🐢

Project Title- Shell-Ter Crisis! Determining the impact of anthropogenic habitat alteration on the eftectiveness of gopher tortoise burrows as an ecosystem service for commensal species 🐢

Project Titles-

Invasion from all sides: Determining the prevalence and infection intensity of Pentastome infections in invasive lizard and anuran hosts present in Central Florida 🦎

Determining the Prevalence and Transmission Risk of Raillitiella orientalis Infections in Outdoor-Housed Eastern Indigo Snakes (Drymarchon couperi)🐍

Project Title- Determining Effects of Stromwater Retention Water on Pathogenic Infection in Watersnakes (Nerodia spp.) within Central Florida 🐍

Project Title- Determining Prevalence of trace metal Bioaccumulation in central Florida’s watersnakes (Nerodia spp.) 🐍

Project Title- Holding The Front Line:
Understanding Health and Disease Dynamics of the Argentine Tegu, Salvador merianae, in Central Florida, USA 🦎

Whether it’s taking body morphometrics, handling data, pulling traps, or helping out on field days, our field techs are ...
09/17/2026

Whether it’s taking body morphometrics, handling data, pulling traps, or helping out on field days, our field techs are the people who really help make everything happen. A lot of the work we do wouldn’t be possible without the time, effort, and long days they put in.

This post is our way of highlighting the people who keep the research moving and saying a huge thank you for all the work you guys do. We appreciate every one of you and everything you contribute to UDIE. 🐍🦎🐸

Today we are highlighting the work we are doing in some of the stormwater ponds here at UCF. Project lead Cami just comp...
09/06/2026

Today we are highlighting the work we are doing in some of the stormwater ponds here at UCF. Project lead Cami just completed her summer session of sampling for her project that explores the presence and prevalence of Amphibian Perkinsea in human altered landscapes. This work has been trying this year due to the large drought that most of the region currently faces but thank to rain this past week some of our natural ponds finally have water again.

Congratulations to our very own Hannah DeGraw who was just awarded the distinguished undergraduate research award for th...
09/02/2026

Congratulations to our very own Hannah DeGraw who was just awarded the distinguished undergraduate research award for the month of September by the UCF office of undergraduate research. Hannah’s work focuses on pathogens present in Gopher tortoises on UCF’s campus and will be looking to defend her honors undergraduate thesis later this semester. She’s also incredibly active both here UCF with quite a few different extracurricular, clubs, and organizations and with her role with the SeaWorld rescue team. Congratulations again, Hannah!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the lab. While our summer may have been winding down from all the conference crazine...
08/18/2026

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the lab. While our summer may have been winding down from all the conference craziness, we have been ramping up on lab work completing nearly 400 extractions and running 12 plates of qPCR. We should have lots of cool things to talk about soon so stay tuned!

Lots of good news to announce this week. Two of our Project Leads, Gretchen and Emy just recieved grants from the Office...
08/12/2026

Lots of good news to announce this week. Two of our Project Leads, Gretchen and Emy just recieved grants from the Office of Undergraduate Research for their projects. Emy will explore the impacts of urbanization and invasion on population health and pathogen dynamics of Cane Toads and Gretchen will be exploring the impacts of snake hosts residing in water runoff systems on Snake Fungal Disease Infection dynamics. We are super proud of all of their hard work and can’t wait to see all of the cool things they are going to find out!

For today’s we get to celebrate our very first peer-reviewed pub as a lab being accepted for publication. Congratulati...
08/10/2026

For today’s we get to celebrate our very first peer-reviewed pub as a lab being accepted for publication. Congratulations 🎉 project lead Juliette and thank you for all of your hard work these last three years!

🎊 Congratulations to all our new Alumknights! Yall have worked so incredibly hard and have accomplished so much. Thank y...
08/03/2026

🎊 Congratulations to all our new Alumknights! Yall have worked so incredibly hard and have accomplished so much. Thank you for all of your hard work and we can’t wait to see all the amazing things you’re going to do!
⚔️

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4000 Central Florida Blvd
Orlando, FL
32816

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