The SSAR congratulates the following recipients of the Roger Conant Grants in Herpetology. Each receives an award of $500. To learn more about the grant, visit our webpage. Stay tuned for the upcoming cycle (applications due December 15)!
Conservation:
• Aleida Iriarte, University of Florida; Managing endangered micro-endemic Microkayla frogs through community-based conservation in the Bolivian Andes
• Maddisyn Braun, The University of Georgia; The Role of Hybridization in Shaping Plethodon Responses to Climate
Education:
• Aayush Dhungana, Tribhuvan University; Building school teachers capacity to deliver effective Yellow Monitor conservation education in schools around Chitwan National Park, central Nepal
• Eston Kimaswoch Ayiego, IUCN Commission on Education & Communication (CEC); Living with Pythons: A School-Based Human–Snake Coexistence Program in Baringo County
Field Research in Herpetology:
• Zifang Xiong, University of Toronto; Can predation explain why mainland and island Anolis lizard faunas are so different? – Rethinking the ecological drivers of anole radiations.
• McKae Sarkowski, Auburn University; Measuring sex-specific natural selection in a long-lived species, the diamond-backed terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) International Research in Herpetology
• Chien-Chen Huang, Macquarie University, Australia; Behavioral Flexibility and Spatial Ecology in Human-modified Environments: A Field Study in Wild Lace Monitors (Varanus varius)
• Amar Osmanbašić, (University of Sarajevo); Brčko District: a potential herpetological hotspot in a poorly explored region of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Laboratory Research in Herpetology:
• Emily Blackwell, New York University; Bright lights, hot city: Investigating the effects of artificial light and urban heat on Anolis sagrei
• Gregory Pandelis, University of Texas at Arlington; How to eat a snail: convergence and divergence in skull shape among a sympatric assemblage of snail-eating snakes
Travel:
• Sage Kruleski (California Polytechnic State University); Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of a Native Island Amphibian on the Channel Islands
• Hope Erin George (John Carroll University); Bright colors are not always enough: how anti-predator behaviors help protect poison frogs
Undergraduate Research in Herpetology:
• Gabriela Ribau (Junior Drew University); Morphological and behavioral effects of microplastics on American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) tadpoles and metamorphs
• Nancy Barahona (California Polytechnic State University); Understanding Euryhelmis infections in Taricha torosa through identification of the first intermediate host
Thanks to this year’s reviewers: Stephen Mullin (Arkansas State University), Paul Klawinski (University of Oklahoma), Rob Grasso (Park aquatic ecologist, Yosemite National Park), Mirna Garcia (UNAM, Mexico), Donald Brown (Forest service), David Steinberg (University of New Hampshire), Kelly Robinson (Cal Poly at Humboldt), and Chris Distel (Schreiner University).