You led a long-term monitoring initiative in Peru that’s focused on the amphibian chytrid fungus, which is seen as destroying many amphibian populations around the world. How does that fungus affect amphibians?

The fungus attacks the skin of vulnerable species. An infected frog then develops hyperkeratosis, a thickening of the keratin layer of the skin that inhibits water and oxygen from being absorbed. So its electrolytes get dangerously imbalanced and it’s sloughing off skin. The frogs eventually go into cardiac arrest.

It can be devastating for certain species, but others appear to be much more resilient to it. There are a lot of complex questions about the pathogenicity of different fungal strains. It’s a big field.

We have been studying which frogs are getting infected by chytrid fungus and then, while they’re dealing with it, how they’re also adapting to the effects of the warming climate.

What have you found?

We have been able to show that as the frogs advance upward and expand their range, they’re bringing the fungus with them. Some of the frogs that we found near the top of the pass, at 5,300-meter elevation, have been chytrid-positive. When we researchers go into the field, we take a lot of precautions to spray our boots with alcohol so that we don’t spread the fungus around.

In the Andes, we saw the disappearance of a species, the marbled water frog, Telmatobius marmoratus. After 2005, the population crashed. We couldn’t find them in any of the sites that we sampled for years. But by 2013, they appeared to be coming back. They’re becoming more resistant to the fungus. There’s hope that they’ll do pretty well as they continue adapting to the rapidly changing environment up there.

Do you have a favorite spot for doing fieldwork?

My favorite is always going to be Lake Sibinacocha in Peru. You have flamingos flying over glaciers and Andean hummingbirds fluttering around you. Frogs and vicuña. It’s just amazingly beautiful, and incredibly biodiverse for such a high-mountain environment.

How did you discover two new tarantula species?

It’s surprising, I know, because I’m an arachnophobe!

While we were flipping over rocks in Peru looking for frogs, I spotted a little fuzzy bum sticking out of a hole. I looked at Bronwen Konecky, a then-student and collaborator I was working with, and said, “Can you catch that?” She did.

We took a lot of photos and showed them to an expert tarantula taxonomist who said, “Looks like you may have a new species. Any way you can collect some males and females?”

What happened next?

I had to go back. That time, it was just me with a long pair of tongs, reaching into the holes. I would try to fish out the tarantulas very carefully and almost pass out from adrenalin overload.

The bigger specimens, our horse team helped collect. We deposited the new specimens in Lima and requested that they be sent out for taxonomic evaluation. About 10 years later, they were finally analyzed and results published. Sometimes it takes a long time, but the science does come out.

Where do you hope to conduct research next? Any dream locations?

I would love to do more work in the Himalayas. I just love high-mountain environments. Put me in one and I’m happy. I love to jump from rock to rock, flipping things over, looking for critters. My favorite thing to do is flip rocks and see what’s under them.

In your spare time, you’ve photographed and studied severe storms. Tell us about that.

That’s my hobby. My husband, Anton Seimon, is the scientific lead of a tornado research team. He’s been involved in tornado research for three decades, and I’ve been storm chasing with him since we met, so for 20 years.

Every year between May and June, we pack our van and our hound dog Chase, and we go out on the Great Plains to follow severe storms. We generally target storms in areas where there’s likely going to be very little destruction, where we can get uninterrupted views of these storms. But even if we don’t see storms, I’m perfectly happy to photograph wildlife and wildflowers. Immersing myself in nature, like when I go out in the field, is my favorite thing to do.