The 2017 Southeastern Partners for Amphibian and Reptile Conservation meeting will be held from February 16-19, 2017 at the Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center in Little Rock, AR. For more details, see the PDF here: SEPARC 2017
Archives for 2016
2017 Biology, Management, and Conservation of North American Salamanders Training Course
Amphibian Ark and Zoo Atlanta are pleased to announce the 2017 Biology, Management and Conservation of North American Salamanders training course.
The course will consist of five days of intensive training, including lectures, hands-on practical exercises, and fieldwork, with the goal of providing the students with technical skills necessary for long-term management of ex situ assurance populations of salamanders, from species selection to reintroductions with focus on husbandry, health, biosecurity and population management. Topics covered during the course will include: salamander biology, conservation and management; enclosure design and construction; captive breeding techniques; biosecurity and disease control; monitoring and surveys of wild and captive populations; education and scientific engagement. A field trip is arranged at Wharton Center, GA.
For full information, see the attached PDF: 2017 Salamander Course
Snake Fungal Disease Training
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering training regarding snake fungal disease for its employees this fall. Interest has been strong for this topic so public webinars may be coming soon!
Wanted: New SSAR Bloggers!
Are you a herpetologist? Do you like to write? Blog with SSAR!
We are always seeking people to write new blog posts for our website. Topics should include SSAR-relevant news items such as job openings, new and interesting herpetological publications, SSAR-specific society updates, herpetology-focused meetings (or on talks presented at general meetings that focused on herpetology), and other fun herp facts or videos. Writing blog posts will give people an opportunity to be involved with SSAR and is a perfect opportunity for undergraduates and graduate students, but the opportunity is open to anyone who is interested in contributing. If you would like to contribute blog posts to the SSAR website, please send us an e-mail, and we can provide you with additional information.
2017 SSAR Roger Conant Grants-in-Herpetology Program
Proposals will be accepted for the 2017 SSAR Roger Conant Grants-in-Herpetology Program starting on 15 September 2016, and proposals are due by 15 December 2016. Please see this page for complete details.
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Research Curator position posting
For details, see the announcement here: Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Research Curator.
What’s in the komodo dragon microbiome?
From Joe Mendelson:
Surveys of the microbiome across most of the Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis) in US zoos indicated that each animal’s internal and external microbiome was largely specific to itself and its enclosure. Komodo Dragons typically are maintained in isolation, as they are solitary animals in the wild, and zoo enclosure-designs and geographic location dictate whether the animals have access to outdoor environments. Dragons with access to outdoors typically had more diverse microbiota. These results indicate that there is not common dragon-specific microbiota across captive individuals and, inasmuch as microbiota diversity can affect overall health of individual animals of many species, the animal-health consequences of reduced diversity of microbiota in isolated, indoor dragons is unknown.
Read the full article here and a press release here.
Perspective pieces in Journal of Herpetology
The long-term perspective, about science, conservation or a particular discipline, is often lost. The broader view may be lost in the immediacy and fervor of publishing science that will move us along in understanding the complex world we live in or in facilitating management that will make a difference in the conservation of the beleaguered organisms we study, protect, and love. Several years ago the Journal of Herpetology began a new series of invited papers. This series was specifically intended to capture the long-term perspective of scientists who had gained that multi-decade view of their field. The pieces were intended to provide a forum for lessons learned, musings about the future of the discipline, and data, yet with the added depth and humanity that makes herpetology a unique science. We intended to chronicle some of the adventures, wisdom and heretofore unpublished data of “giants in our field” and to provide an opportunity for their shared wisdom and tribal lore to be communicated and archived for students, current and future, and for colleagues.
This series has been a success, but we want to draw the readership back to its presence. Publication in this section is by invitation only, and no more than one is published per issue. Papers reflect a multi-decade perspective on a particular herpetological issue, focusing on how the science has changed over the years, on what current views are and what future views might be. These pieces are highly readable because they include an element of anecdote such that readers are drawn not only to the science, but to the person behind that science and the challenges and adventures that highlighted the journey.
Perspectives pieces by the following have been published and more are in preparation.
- Richard Goris
- Marvalee Wake
- Whit Gibbons
- Pat Gregory
- Hal Heatwole
- Eric Pianka
- Martha Crump
- Trevor Beebee
- Rick Shine
Perspectives pieces are archived and can be accessed by members of the Society for the Study or Amphibians and Reptiles here.
If you are not yet a member and would like to become one, click here.
Vital spaces, vital places–Research in our national parks
SSAR Member C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr. reflects upon years of herpetological research in US National Parks in this piece (permanent archive here) at Johns Hopkins University Press.
SSAR Victor Hutchison Student Poster Award Winners for 2016 Announced
The SSAR student poster awards honor Victor Hutchison for his extensive contributions to herpetology and the development of future herpetologists. The sixth annual SSAR Victor Hutchison Student Poster Awards were presented at the 60th Annual Meeting of the SSAR and the Joint Meeting of Ichthyology and Herpetology in New Orleans, Louisiana, 6-10 July 2016. This year there were 53 poster submissions, our highest number of submissions so far. In recognition of outstanding student poster presentations at the annual meeting, a single award was given in each of the following categories: Evolution, Genetics, & Systematics (3 eligible presentations), Ecology, Natural History, Distribution, & Behavior (23 presentations), Physiology & Morphology (9 presentations), and Conservation & Management (12 presentations). All awardees received a check for US $200 and a book from CRC Press.
This year’s judges were Tiffany Doan (Chair, University of Central Florida), Catherine Aubee (US Environmental Protection Agency), Nirvana Filoramo (Worcester State University), Marina Gerson (California State University, Stanislaus), Michelle Koo (University of California), Mark Mills (Missouri Western State University), Carol Spencer (Museum of Vertebrate Zoology), Steven Whitfield (Zoo Miami), and Thomas Wilson (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga).
The Winners – Ecology, Natural History, Distribution, & Behavior: Berlynna Heres (Marshall University), “Ambush Site Selection in Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes Using Vegetation Analysis and Radio Telemetry.” Evolution, Genetics, & Systematics: Kathryn Mercier (University of Central Florida), “Unearthing the evolutionary history of Mole Skinks.” Physiology & Morphology: Jake Pruett (Indiana State University, Terra Haute), “Polymorphic Male Blue-bellied Lizards (Sceloporus parvus) Exhibit Differences in Circulating Testosterone Levels and Relative Abundance of Volatile Organic Compounds”.Conservation & Management: Alex Cameron (John Carroll University), “Can Species Distribution Models Predict Abundance?”