Dr. David M. Sever passed away on 19 April 2019. David was well known in the herpetological community for over 40 years of work on the natural history of amphibians and reptiles, specifically the evolution of primary and secondary sexual characteristics. David was a long-time member of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), and its predecessor, The Ohio Herpetological Society, and had been attending herpetological conferences since the early 1970s. David recognized the importance of scientific societies and presenting research at conferences and encouraged all of his students to attend the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, sponsored by three societies of which he was an active member (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, The Herpetologists’ League, and SSAR). In lieu of flowers and other gifts, Marlis Sever (David’s wife) has requested that donations be made in his name to a travel fund that SSAR has agreed to maintain and earmark for student travel to SSAR–sponsored conferences. Those donations can be made here.
JMIH Meeting Management and Planning Committee report
The Joint Meeting of Ichthyology and Herpetology (JMIH) Meeting Management and Planning Committee (MMPC) met 11 April 2017 through 13 April 2019, and their report is available here: JMIH MMPC Report
#ThisIsSSAR: Lizard dreams and Gregory Watkins-Colwell
This is the third post in this new series from SSAR! Our members often join SSAR to learn more about the organisms that fascinate them. Each month, we are excited to profile the herpetological interest of one of our community members and to feature their focal amphibian or reptile species/system.
Featured SSAR member: Gregory Watkins-Colwell
What is your study species (or species group) and why is it interesting?
A specimen from the YPM
I manage the specimen collection of Ichthyology and Herpetology at Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. I am mainly interested in collection management, archives, curation and ensuring that specimens (and their data!) are available to researchers. This interests me because collections are a library of biodiversity and there is no limit to what these specimens can teach.
In my spare time I literally dream about lizards; especially geckos and Sceloporus (an occasional salamander is in the recurring dream too). I also participate in several local amphibian and reptile projects, such as documenting the distribution of Podarcis sicula in New England. I also occasionally conduct some field collections in various other parts of the world. In my career I’ve joined expeditions to Brunei, China and New Caledonia to collect amphibians and reptiles. I’ve also participated in a research cruise of Bear Seamount to collect deep-water fishes. I’ve collaborated in multiple specimen-based studies, including the description of Rana kauffeldi and Chelonoidis donfaustoi and Sceloporus brownorum.
What is it about this species that you study?
Greg showing off his dedication to lizards!
I’m not sure why lizards find their way into my subconscious. But they do. They always have. When I was twelve, I got a flying gecko for a pet. Before that I had a green anole when I was six, but it didn’t live long (because I was six!). But that hooked me on them. I’ve been addicted to them ever since.
Some of my favorite specimens in the collection have interesting stories to tell. For example, YPM has a large collection of spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus holbrooki) larvae that represent a major project conducted by Stanley Ball who was among the first researchers to mention amphibian decline in a publication (in reference to spadefoot toads in New England). His detailed notes on the developmental biology of the species were never fully published and the specimens represent populations whose breeding ponds were filled in during the early half of the 20th century for public health reasons. Some of the ponds were located where town halls and other buildings now exist.
YPM also has a large collection of specimens from Egypt that were mostly collected during the construction of the Second Aswan Dam and were collected from sites that are now under Lake Naser, and thus represent a snapshot in time of populations now extinct, not unlike Stanley Ball’s spadefoot toads.
Other cool specimens I get to see every day include a 17 foot long taxidermy mounted Gavialis gangeticus that was exchanged to the museum in 1890 from the Ward’s Natural Science Establishment. The notion that a biological supply company would offer such specimens is amazing to me.
Who are you, how did you get where you are, and what’s your story?
I grew up in a small town in northwestern Ohio (Antwerp) where I was the only person I ever knew interested in herpetology. During high school I worked at pet stores and volunteered at the zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I also participated in some herp society activities in the area and kept a lot of lizards in my parents’ spare bedroom. I participated in science fair, quiz bowl, marching band, and other nerdish things (dungeons and dragons, audio-visual assistant, etc.). I chose my undergraduate university (Ohio Wesleyan University) because that is where the Ohio State Science Fair was held, and I got to take a tour of the zoology museum collection there every time I went to state science fair. During college I did as much as I could involving herpetology despite the fact that the university did not have a formal herpetology course. While in college I also met my wife, but she wasn’t called that then.
In 1995 we moved to Connecticut and I taught as a lecturer and as an adjunct faculty at several universities before landing a job preparing skeletons at Peabody Museum. I’ve now been at the museum, in one capacity or another, for nearly 20 years. My wife and I have been married 25 years, our two kids are in college and we have 2 dogs and a spare room full of lizards.
Why are you a member of SSAR?
Greg demonstrating his field prowess
I joined SSAR when I was in middle school after exchanging letters with Henri Seibert. I had written him about colleges that offer Herpetology and about career goals and to share with him that I was participating in the 7th grade science fair. Following conversations with Henri, my parents paid my membership fee and I started to receive Journal of Herpetology and Herpetological Review at home. During high school I became more involved with a local herpetological association (Northern Ohio Association of Herpetologists) and lost track of SSAR until I went to college where I again started reading Journal of Herpetology and Herpetological Review. In Graduate school (Ohio University… where Henri still had a desk in the collection room) I joined again and have been a member sense. In fact, at some point I joined as a Life Member. I decided that it’s not like I’ll wake up some morning and hate lizards. I may as well commit my life to the things in my dreams.
SSAR Leadership Profiles: Student Travel Award Committee
In this installment of the SSAR leadership profiles, Ariana Rupp, a current co-chair of the Student Travel Award Committee, explains the committee’s activities and her experience getting involved with the committee.
Official duties
The Travel Award Committee is composed of three to four student members including a chair or two co-chairs each year. This committee has four main duties: 1) soliciting student travel award applications from current SSAR students who will present their research at the annual Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH); 2) compiling and checking applications; 3) conducting a random drawing to select recipients of travel awards prior to the JMIH early registration deadline; and 4) overseeing the SSAR silent auction at JMIH to raise funds for future travel awards.
Activities throughout the year, including at the annual meeting
In the late winter or early spring of each year, the committee solicits applications for the SSAR student travel awards via the JMIH meeting website, SSAR website and newsletter, and social media postings. We compile a list of complete applications, then we use a random draw to select travel award recipients. We aim to announce the results by email around first week of May, before the early registration deadline. The co-chairs help coordinate the new option (effective 2019) for travel award recipients to receive some or all of the award prior to the conference rather than as reimbursement afterwards. The co-chairs of the committee also receive travel awards to ensure that they can attend the meeting to coordinate the silent auction and volunteer duties of the travel award recipients. Prior to JMIH, we put together a schedule for each travel award recipient to work shifts at the SSAR silent auction viewing room during the meeting. We also compile an annual report of the number of applicants and the selected recipients.
At the meeting, the Student Travel Award Committee ensures a complete schedule of student volunteers to cover all open hours of the SSAR silent auction viewing room. The SSAR silent auction receives donations of herpetology-related items from members of the society and auctions them at JMIH in order to raise funds for future student travel awards. Award recipients and committee members collect silent auction donations both prior to and during the annual meeting, filling out individual descriptions and bid sheets for each item to use as a record. The Travel Award Committee also works with the SSAR treasurer to conduct the sales of the silent auction items at the completion of the auction.
Interactions with other SSAR committees and leaders
The Travel Award Committee works with the SSAR secretary to find out how many awards will be given each year, and the committee chair submits an annual report to the secretary prior to JMIH. The committee also works closely with the SSAR treasurer to collect payments after the silent auction.
Path to joining the Student Travel Award Committee
I received the student travel award the year before I became a co-chair for the Student Travel Award Committee. After JMIH 2017, Vincent Farallo, the previous chair, sent an email to previous travel award recipients announcing that he planned to step down as chair and asking if anyone would be interested in serving in his place. Dan Paluh and I happily agreed to serve as co-chairs and are now in our second year. I decided to serve on this committee because I wanted to give back to the society. The silent auction is always a highlight of my time at the annual meeting, and seeing the generous and unique donations each year make volunteering in the silent auction room a blast.
Students do not need to have any special experience serving on a committee in order to join the Student Travel Award Committee. This entirely student-run committee is currently looking for one or two more people to join. If you are interested in joining, you can contact one of the co-chairs (contact info above).
Organizational skills and the ability to respond promptly to emails have helped me in my role as committee co-chair. I previously strengthened those skills by helping out with the Herpetologists’ League student calendars. Although I was in SSAR for four years before joining this committee, there are no length of membership requirements for students interested in serving on the Student Travel Award Committee and we encourage all interested students to reach out to us. The Student Travel Award Committee would be a great place to start for someone wanting to get more involved in SSAR.
Future of the committee
I would love to see more students get involved in the Travel Award Committee for the continued success of the silent auction, which helps fund the SSAR’s generous student travels awards each year.
Contact
If you are a student who would like to join the Student Travel Award Committee, please contact Ariana Rupp (arianarupp91@gmail.com) or Dan Paluh (dpaluh@ufl.edu). If you are interested in applying for a student travel award, you can find instructions on the SSAR website. Anyone interested in donating items for the silent auction can find more information near the bottom of the General Information page of the JMIH website.
Ariana Rupp
Dan Paluh
Student Travel Awards for JMIH 2019 due on May 4th
Today is deadline for JMIH 2019 Abstract Submission – Snowbird, Utah
Reminder: today is the final day to submit an abstract for JMIH 2019! More information here: https://conferences.k-state.edu/jmih/abstract-submission/
Herpetological Review 50(1) available online!
2019 marks the 50th anniversary of Herpetological Review. The March issue features a 42-page special section that retraces the history of HR, which began as a regional society newsletter, consisting of a few pages assembled by precocious teenagers. We hope that SSAR members will take time to read this retrospective, to better appreciate the contributions of hundreds of colleagues in service to the herpetological community.
This issue is scheduled to be mailed on 29 March, and full contents are available online to SSAR members here. All Natural History Notes, Geographic Distribution Notes, Book Reviews, and other select sections are Open Access and are available for download at the same link. If you are not a member of SSAR, please consider joining the leading international herpetological society. Student and online-only rates available. Read more about membership information here!
SSAR Leadership Profiles: Student Participation Committee
In this installment of the SSAR leadership profiles project, Jessica Tingle, the current chair of the Student Participation Committee, explains the committee’s activities and her experience getting involved with the committee.
Official duties
In general, the Student Participation Committee aims to increase student engagement in any way possible by providing opportunities for individual students to have a voice in the SSAR. The committee does not have a cap on the number of students who may join, and its activities depend in part on the number of active student committee members at any given time.
Historically, the committee has focused on organizing student events (e.g. workshops and socials) at the annual Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH), and also on working with other committees to brainstorm ways to recruit and retain student members. The committee has expanded its role since summer 2018 by taking on several new projects, detailed below.
Because neither the SSAR bylaws nor the supplement to the SSAR constitution outlines duties for the Student Participation Committee, this committee has considerable leeway. Jeremy Feinberg, a previous chair, created a manual to help with the job. New chairs can add to this living document as they go.
Activities throughout the year, including at the annual meeting
Organizing student workshops for JMIH begins with brainstorming ideas for workshop topics. In the past, we’ve had workshops on topics such as “how to get a job,” “law and order in herpetology,” “how to teach a field course,” and many others. Once committee members decide on the topic for the year’s workshop, they must seek out experts in the field who would be willing to help lead the workshop. Then, they must work out logistics such as advertising and figuring out whether they can provide lunch during the workshop. Sometimes the SSAR student committee works with the Herpetologists’ League student committee to set up joint workshops.
In August 2018, the Student Participation Committee created a survey for students, postdocs, and other young members (summary of the results here). This survey provided information that has guided the committee’s activities over the last several months. For example, we have created a monthly email newsletter in response to comments that the SSAR should be more communicative about its activities and opportunities. The Student Participation Committee now helps out with the SSAR’s social media presence. We began this series of SSAR leadership profiles to give members a better idea of the SSAR’s organization, activities, and ways they can get involved. We’ve also worked closely with the SSAR president, secretary, treasurer, and other leaders to improve the SSAR student experience in various ways. Some examples include the push for the SSAR to provide money for conference travel grants before JMIH instead of afterwards as reimbursement, and looking into ways to secure affordable food for students who attend JMIH.
Day-to-day activities on the committee involve a lot of communication by email to discuss current projects and new ideas. When we have a project, like these SSAR leadership profiles, individual students work on their parts of the project and we pass document drafts back and forth to give each other feedback. Some committee members stay on top of the SSAR social media accounts throughout the year. As chair, I spend a lot of time communicating with other SSAR leaders and occasionally the leaders of the other major herpetological societies, Herpetologists’ League (HL) and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH), to figure out new initiatives. For example, we share many goals in common with the HL’s Diversity and Inclusivity Committee, so it makes sense to collaborate.
Interactions with other SSAR committees and leaders
As mentioned above, the Student Participation Committee regularly works with other SSAR leaders. The committee chair communicates with the president, secretary, and occasionally the treasurer involving upper-level SSAR decisions that affect students. The Student Participation Committee and the Membership Committee share a similar goal of engaging with members, so we bounce ideas off each other and can join forces whenever it makes sense to do so. We often interact with the Web Committee to put new materials online. More recently, a couple members of the Student Participation Committee have been working closely with the Mentorship Committee to expand the JMIH mentorship program. I can foresee working with several other committees in the future, including the Long Range Planning Committee. Additionally, some members of the SSAR Student Participation Committee help out with Herpetologists’ League’s Diversity and Inclusivity Committee and Graduate Studies Committee to achieve shared goals between the societies.
Path to joining the Student Participation Committee
Then-president Rick Shine asked me after JMIH 2018 if I’d be willing to chair the Student Participation Committee. I wholeheartedly agreed, since I’d been an SSAR member for seven years and wanted to become more actively involved in the society. Prior to talking to Rick, I did not realize that students could get involved in a variety of ways. It turns out that I could have become involved much earlier, had I known!
After becoming chair, I sent a general call to students trying to get more people on the committee. The enthusiastic response wowed me, with high-school students up to PhD candidates offering to help out. The Student Participation Committee provides a relatively low-stakes way for students to become involved in the SSAR. Since the committee has several activities, individual members can pick which ones interest them the most. Some students have chosen to take on small roles that give them a taste of leadership responsibility in the SSAR, while others have chosen to take on larger roles.
Anyone can contribute to the Student Participation Committee without needing a lot of “relevant” prior experience. We’re all capable of coming up with ideas and helping out in some way or another. As a result, becoming a member of the committee is a great first step for getting leadership experience. It’s also not hard to join the committee. You simply have to email the current chair and tell them you’re interested!
As far as chairing the committee, I’ve found that organizational skills and people skills can both be really helpful. In my case, I was a member of an undergraduate herpetology club during college, and eventually became president during my senior year. The experience coordinating with other students to organize field trips, outreach events, and guest speakers has helped me tremendously. I’m also a pretty organized person in general, which has helped me keep track of multiple committee activities that often happen simultaneously. It also helps that I really like people – as a committee chair, you end up interacting with a lot of SSAR members on a regular basis.
Future of the committee
The lack of very specific guidelines for the Student Participation Committee creates a challenge at times, but it also provides wonderful flexibility for the committee’s role to evolve as students who join it bring in new perspectives. I hope that we maintain our current momentum, as I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish over the last few months through the efforts of several dedicated individuals and the strong support of the SSAR leadership.
We especially want to increase involvement of younger students and students from underrepresented groups. Representing students with the greatest possible variety of personal experiences will increase our ability to identify areas of need so that we can make positive change. With the supportive leadership that we currently have in the SSAR, students can make substantial contributions to the future of our field. We really are the future of herpetology.
Contact
If you are a student who would like to join the Student Participation Committee, please contact Jessica Tingle (jessica.tingle@email.ucr.edu). We welcome students of any level: high school, undergrad, grad, and folks in between degrees.
Jessica Tingle
SSAR Leadership Profiles: Introduction to the Project
The SSAR Student Participation Committee has begun a project where we will profile the SSAR’s committees and leadership positions. Our goal is to provide members with a better idea of what the society and its leaders do throughout the year, since many members’ contact with the SSAR happens primarily during the annual Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH). We plan to release a couple new profiles each month, and we may pick up the pace if additional students would like to help out with the project by interviewing SSAR leaders and writing up profiles. We hope that these leadership profiles will inspire members, especially young members, to become more active in the SSAR.
Here is a list of profiles that we have completed. We will update the list as we add new profiles.
Student Participation Committee
Student Travel Award Committee
Herpetology Education Committee
If you are a student who would like to help out with this project, please contact the Chair of the Student Participation Committee, Jessica Tingle (jessica.tingle@email.ucr.edu).
#ThisIsSSAR: Snakes, more snakes, and Sebastian A. Harris
This is the second post in this new series from SSAR! Our members often join SSAR to learn more about the organisms that fascinate them. Each month, we are excited to profile the herpetological interest of one of our community members and to feature their focal amphibian or reptile species/system.
Featured SSAR member: Sebastian A. Harris
What is your study species (or species group) and why is it interesting?
Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum)
Luckily, I get to study several snake species as I’m primarily interested in community ecology. Small to medium sized colubrids will be my focus for the next few years. Northern Ringneck Snakes, Eastern Garter Snakes, Eastern Milk Snakes, Northern Red-bellied Snakes and possibly Smooth Greensnakes will be incorporated in my research. I’ve always been infatuated with snakes from afar, and I actually had the opportunity to study Timber Rattlesnakes during my Masters research at East Stroudsburg University. It’s difficult to pinpoint why snakes are interesting. Perhaps their enigmatic nature is a big reason, along with the fact that they’re among the most misunderstood creatures on the planet. Their diversity and proliferation despite being limbless on a planet full of bipeds and tetrapods is one unifying intrigue of snakes. Overall, snakes simply possess some intrinsic allure about them. I’ve always found them to be the most interesting group of animals on the planet, and I’m grateful to have set out on a path where I can study them!
What is it about this species that you study?
Ring-necked Snakes (Diadophis punctatus)
I’ve always been most interested in dynamics between vastly different organismal groups. I’m also interested in factors that influence their spatial distribution on several scales. With that being said, I’ll be studying how snake (and possibly salamander) diversity is affected by a dominant mound-building ant species, Formica exsectoides. Ant mounds have been reported to support large numbers of hibernating reptiles (especially juvenile snakes) and amphibians. Hence, the engineering effects of Allegheny Mound Ants may be associated with greater snake diversity than nearby habitat patches. Conversely, the territorial nature of ant colonies may negatively affect local snake diversity. There’s been very little research exploring this relationship, despite its possible importance for understanding snake community ecology. On a larger scale, much attention has gone to climactic drivers of distribution patterns. However, biotic factors, such as ecosystem engineering by dominant ant species, may contribute to snake diversity patterns we observe at the landscape scale.
Sebastian A. Harris
Who are you, how did you get where you are, and what’s your story?
I grew up in Allentown, PA, devoid of any real exposure to nature. However, I, like many others born in the 90’s, was captivated by Zoobooks, Discovery Channel Documentaries and people like Steve Irwin. I was also obsessed with Pokemon (bear with me) which sort of fulfilled my desire to explore and find cool things. Growing up in the heart of a city without a car in the family meant I was tied to my neighborhood. Hence, I found solace in things like Animal Planet (Jeff Corwin especially) which kept my interest in wildlife active throughout my childhood. I spent some time during high school as an intern at Wildlands Conservancy, where I made connections to established herpetologists in Pennsylvania. I eventually was accepted to Delaware Valley College and graduated in 2014. I then went on to East Stroudsburg University for my Masters degree, where I studied Timber Rattlesnakes under Dr. Thomas C. LaDuke. I’ve since graduated and am now working on a PhD at Rutgers University. I spared many details but that’s the gist!
Why are you a member of SSAR?
SSAR allows me to keep up with the latest work in our field, and serves as inspiration for my own work and time spent out in nature. One of my former professors would frequently tell me: “the more you know, the more you notice.” Discoveries made by fellow herpetologists make outings more meaningful. It adds dimensions to my own observations, and adds to a database of random natural history notes I can carry around in my head. It’s rare that I get to share the societies wonderful discoveries in casual conversation, but I do my best to share when I can! Of course, the welfare of our reptiles and amphibians matters most, and tireless work from fellow members keeps me up to date with the state of our field and the subjects we care so much about.
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