New research has upended the conventional wisdom that for a century has incorrectly guided the study of a toad listed as endangered in part of its range.

Anne Devan-Song used spotlighting — shining a light in a dark spot and looking for eye reflections — to find large numbers of the eastern spadefoot toad. The study illustrates how confirmation bias — a tendency to interpret new information as ratification of existing theories — can hamper discovery and the development of better ones.

Her findings, which show that the toad spends much more time above ground than commonly believed, were published in the Journal of Herpetology.

Known for bright yellow eyes with elliptical pupils and, as the name suggests, a spade on each hind foot, the eastern spadefoot toad ranges from the southeast corner of the United States up the Atlantic Coast to New England. Known scientifically as Scaphiopus holbrooki, it is a species of conservation concern in the northern reaches of its territory.

Devan-Song, a Ph.D. student in integrative biology, grew up in Singapore, where she learned she could search for reptiles and amphibians by spotlighting. In Rhode Island, where she earned a master’s degree and then worked as a university research associate, the eastern spadefoot toad is endangered.

One rainless night while surveying for amphibians during a project in Virginia, Devan-Song’s spotlight detected one eastern spadefoot after another. That surprised her because the toads were thought to be detectable only on a few rainy nights every year, when they emerge from underground burrows to mate in wetlands.

Story Source:
Materials provided by Oregon State University. Original written by Steve Lundeberg. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.