Archives for January 2015

The private foundation established by the late Carl Gans is continuing his legacy in herpetology and biology through the dissemination of his works and offering grants to students within his fields of study.

The fund has announced that it will support two types of awards available to both graduate and undergraduate students who are attending this summer’s Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles meeting at the University of Kansas (30 July – 3 August 2015). The award types are: registration awards, which will cover the full student registration fee of US $150, and travel awards, which will support student travel expenses. All students are eligible for both awards, regardless of nationality. Applicants must present a paper (oral or poster) at the meeting within the broad spectrum of research conducted by Gans on the biology of reptiles and amphibians to be eligible. The application deadline for both awards is 15 February 2015. See here for more information: http://carlgans.org/grants/

Professor Gans was considered one of the preeminent specialists on the biology of reptiles and made contributions to their systematics, comparative and functional morphology, physiology, biomechanics, and behavior in over 600 publications. The fund consists of a Board of Trustees led by Leo Gans, Dr. Ronald Gans, and Eva Lynn Gans, and a Scientific Advisory Board, which is under the direction of Drs. Kraig Adler, Aaron Bauer, Amos Bouskila, Herb Rosenberg, and Linda Trueb.

Carl Gans in 1997 holding a Shingleback Skink (Tiliqua rugosa), taken from the 2010 obituary in Herpetological Review by Kraig Adler

The Gans Collections and Charitable Fund has recently published Gans’ Biology of the Reptilia series online, freely available at carlgans.org. The series consists of 22 volumes and approximately 14,000 pages, covering the morphology, behavior, development, ecology, neurology, and physiology of reptiles. The webpage provides the complete table of contents and index of the series, as well as direct access to the full content of every volume. The Fund hopes that access to this valuable resource will enable and inspire further study in these fields.