Science has recognized in the last few decades the importance of the ecosystem concept, studying the interactions between both the organisms and the climate which compose the environment. The project seeks to establish a long term-database that specifically relates climatic variables to salamander activity levels.

Salamanders are excellent organisms to use as a proxy for an environmental health. They are abundant; there is evidence indicating that they are the largest percentage of vertebrate biomass in temperate mixed forests. These amphibians are also in intimate  contact with both the land and water of their environment and are susceptible to pollution in many forms. Additionally, because the abundant Plethedon genera is lungless and breathe through their skin they are sensitive to ambient weather conditions, especially humidity. 

This project is an innovative one in trying to establish a long-term database that correlates changing climate conditions to environmental health. This means that we can use this database to look at real world changes in response to changes in climate, and that will serve as a valuable tool to scientists in the future regarding the status of the environment. It may help to solve the mystery of declining amphibian populations.

Salamander activity levels are monitored through the use of coverboards, which function as artificial cover objects that are used by these animals as moist hiding places. This method involves placing two of these 1'x 1' oak planks every 10m along a 100m transect line. Each site has a transect in a dry ridge environment and a moist hollow habitat. Currently there are sampling sites on South Mountain, Hawk Mountain, and at Lacawac 
 Sanctuary. Each transect is also complimented by mini-computer data loggers that continuously record relative humidity, temperature, and precipitation. Coverboards are checked once a month, and the weather data downloaded. There are several simple goals: to maintain the database over time, see and interpret a response in salamanders to climate change, and to involve undergraduate students. The database is in its infancy, but undergraduate students have played a strong role in its implementation.