Caught in the Act - Some News Coverage

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Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell. © Austin American-Statesman 

A week or so ago, students working with Dr. Ben Pierce, including myself, conducted a monthly visual encounter survey at the Twin Springs Preserve in Williamson County, TX. We do these surveys at two sites every month, and we look for a local species near and dear to our hearts: the Georgetown salamander (Eurycea naufragia).

The survey I just mentioned was special in that we had a reporter and photographer from the Austin American-Statesman newspaper take some photos and write an article for this week's paper. I was flattered to be included in the article - as it was primarily focused on opening up this preserve to county-trained, permit-carrying individuals.

Here is the article: 'Georgetown-area preserve open for visitors -- but only after some training'. I'm the guy in the stylish blue Animal Behavior Society shirt I designed.

Also - take note that in the right-hand sidebar on this blog, I have some links for my most current CV and press such as this article.

Eurycea naufragia. Photo by Alex Hall.

The Great Turtle-Egg Evacuation

Posted by Alex H. |2 comments

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a very, very sad story. No matter how you look at it, the whole thing is spelling disaster.

What is surprising to me is how the event is being labeled as an ecological disaster by the mainstream media. Even though the explosion of the oil platform has left 11 dead (plus 2) and 17 injured, these facts have been essentially forgotten as the yet-contained oil continues to spew into the Gulf of Mexico and its surrounding shoreline. The focus is not unwarranted in most respects, as the consequences of this input of crude into the Gulf and associated cleanup efforts have and will have staggering effects on the ecology of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

Unsurprisingly, an already-struggling effort for effective sea turtle conservation is being hit with very difficult decisions about what to do. Several species of adult sea turtles are running the risk of being cremated alive when caught inside oil slicks being burned. Additionally, as eggs hatch from nests on the beaches of the Gulf, juvenile turtles would face thousands of miles of oil-polluted water in the most vulnerable time of a sea turtle's life.

This last situation is why the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Florida Marine Fisheries Service have developed a plan to relocate an estimated 70,000 sea turtle eggs from almost 800 beaches along Alabama and Florida. Read more here: The Great Turtle-Egg Evacuation

The plan is very risky for turtles inside eggs. As the article states:

"[...] within 12–24 hours of the eggs being laid, embryos attach to an oxygen-supplying membrane. So any movement of the eggs could cause detachment and death [...]."

A former student from my university completed a series of research projects on sea turtle conservation in the last few years which illuminated my perception of the effectiveness of current conservation efforts. This last point about the eggs dying if moved at the wrong point in time is correct, and is a major concern in these operations.

This topic has been a hot one in many email listservs I am subscribed to (especially C-TURTLE), and the point most interesting to me in all of this is the question of how the relocated hatched juveniles will respond to being transported to beaches several hundred miles from where they were laid. The previously-linked article continues to talk about potential affects of this operation on the relocated turtle's behavior:

Moving the eggs is not generally viewed as problematic. "We have adequate data showing that eggs moved with competence at that age have no difference in survivorship to those not moved," said Mike Salmon, a biologist at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. 

But the release could be another matter. "What we don't know is what impact it might have on other aspects of behaviour," says Salmon. 

"The $64,000 question is, if you take hatchlings that would normally emerge in northwest Florida to the east coast," he said, "will they return there, or to the northwest, where they should go?" Because scientists don't know for sure whether imprinting occurs in the nest or after emergence, this remains a mystery.

This point is one where conservation, ecology, and ethology intersect. My favorite! I anticipate some interesting research will come out of this project, especially if local behavioral research-heavy universities (e.g., University of Florida) are asked to become involved. So much is known about sea turtle navigation and spatial perception, but I do not know of any test which has analyzed how moving recently hatched eggs 500 miles away affects the survival of individuals. Normally, this is not a practical situation which would not require testing (and thus, I see why there is a paucity of research on this specific topic).

Finally, it is worth noting that Heppell et al. (1996) found that the most effective contributors to sea turtle conservation were not efforts directed towards very young sea turtle (particularly 'headstarting', or catching recently hatched individuals and raising them for a year before release). Instead, turtle excluder devices (TEDs) attached to shrimp trawling nets offer the greatest positive effect on their survival. I wonder how meaningful this project to move ~70,000 eggs will be in light of these results.

Thank you for reading, I hope you are doing your part to support relief and clean-up efforts in the wake of this ecologically-disruptive event.

Addendum: I could insert lots of opinion on the oil spill, but I'll pass for two reasons: 1) I'm not a geologist, and 2) no one wants to read my whining (not even me). You can read more about sea turtle headstarting here.

Male Green Frogs in Suburban Habitats Sometimes Develop Eggs

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Interesting video of the now:


I hope you enjoyed that. I post it not only because of the interesting topic, but the simple manner by which a complex process is described. As I look into graduate school more and more, I'll probably be posting videos similar in feel to this one. This is simply because visiting research lab websites exposes me to, well, lab research.

Brown-Headed Cowbirds Exhibit Mafia Behavior

Posted by Alex H. |1 comments

Been a while since my last post. Perhaps I've taken some time off? Nope! School's out for sure, but I'm currently working full time (+ some) with Dr. Ben Pierce in SU's biology department. I spend most of my time in front of a computer, and after a long day of quality excel time, I'm usually just not in the mood to do blahg stuff.


But I'm here for you, right? Yeah.


So today's news isn't really news at all; however, I'm going to guess that the average person on the street has not heard of this problematic species and their interesting behaviors. I've been putting this one off for a while - there's a lot of information, but I think you will find it very intriguing!


Residing in the Southern USA & Mexico, brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are obligate brood parasites (some male BHCs pictured on the right in a trap described later). This terminology means that females BHCs do not (and cannot, I assume) construct nests and must lay their eggs in the nest of another species of bird in order to have a successful clutch. The cowbird eggs hatch earlier than the 'normal' eggs and yield large chicks with very big mouths to feed. Guess who's the bad guy here:

(Photo credit)

Yikes! The parental birds feed the biggest and most obvious beak - which will often be owned by cowbird chicks. This would be fine and dandy in the world of biology, if it weren't for a tiny detail. BHCs used to be restricted to what wildlife biologists call 'edge habitat', as illustrated in this figure:

(photo credit + description)

Essentially, when one has a grouping of a certain type of habitat, the edges are susceptible to different pressures than the inner portion of that type of habitat. Cowbirds got their name because they were found following the wake of edge habitat created by cattle trails in the 1800s. Nowadays, cattle drives are rare, but suburbia and habitat fragmentation are everywhere:

(photo credit)

For species that "live life on the edge" (sorry, I had to), life is good. For the affected species... not so much. Problems arise when this brood parasitism spells certain death for the nest fate (i.e., success) of, say, endangered species. Brown-headed cowbirds, which used to have a more limited range (and then restricted to edge habitats), must now be controlled in areas under management for endangered species of birds.


A classic example of this BHC control is performed on Fort Hood in central Texas. Fort Hood has been a leader in environmental protection and the protection of endangered species. Many an environmental/biological researcher has earned his or her Ph.D. working on their property - and with good reason. Specifically, Fort Hood is the largest remaining breeding ground for the endangered species of bird, the Black-Capped Vireo. Before controlling for BHC,  vireo nest fate was zilch - guaranteed zero percent nest success if parasitized by BHC. Now, the military facility invests a lot of time (and money) into maintaining brown-headed cowbird traps like this one (this is actually a photo I took out at Fort Hood this year):

The premise is simple. The birds can get in, but not out. A door allows someone to enter the cage and handle the birds as necessary. Food and water is provided. Generally, when one BHC is inside the cage (bait), other BHCs will fly over and into the cage to investigate, trapping themselves. Females are euthanized and males are released (only females lay eggs). This simple, if labor-intensive, control has had a hugely positive impact on restoring the black-capped vireo population. The numbers are a bit fuzzy, but I think in the late 80s, Fort Hood had around eighty nesting pairs, and at current they have around five thousand nesting pairs.


So what's new? If you're any sort of bird person, you've probably heard all of the above, if not for the details. The story here is a study released by the University of Florida in 2007 which gave evidence for mafia behavior in female brown-headed cowbirds. ScienceDaily reports on the article (found here). If all of the behavior described above wasn't enough to make you have a distaste for brood parasitism, this article may be the kicker for you. What the researchers, including primary author Jeff Hoover, found was that female brown-headed cowbirds would ransack the nests of birds who rejected the parasitic eggs laid in their nests. It's worth noting that female BHC lay eggs in a nest over a period of days (2-4?), and so they are involved in some parental care of their young - watching to ensure the nest isn't abandoned, checking to see that the eggs have not been pushed out of the nest, and even feeding the chicks after hatching.


Hoover et al. observed Prothonotary warbler nests (a truly beautiful bird which accept BHC eggs almost 100% of the time) and found several interesting things:

"Retaliatory mafia behavior in cowbirds makes hosts' acceptance of cowbird eggs a better proposition than ejection," Hoover said. "The accepting warblers in our study produced more of their own offspring, on average, than those where we ejected cowbird eggs."

The researchers also found what they called "farming behavior." This means that after a warbler rejected the female BHCs eggs, the BHC would force the female warbler to make a new nest, sync her egg laying with the warbler, and parasitize this new nest. This final step happened 85% of the time the farming behaviors were observed. A male prothonotary warbler is pictured on the right (photo credit).

I hope you learned something after reading this truly lengthy post. Thanks for sticking it to the end.

Museum of Living Art (MOLA) - Now Open

Posted by Alex H. |1 comments

As summer approaches, I am getting mixed news about what I'll be doing for the next few months. I had applied to several internships, but none of them had positions open :/

One place that I am interested in is the Forth Worth Zoo. I had a post at the beginning of the year which described the zoo and a new exhibit - the Museum of Living Art (MOLA). This exhibit replaces their Herpetarium built in 1960.

Upon visiting the FW Zoo's website, I see that MOLA opened in March of this year!

Check out their over-the-top promotional videos here or here.

The size and scope of the exhibit are phenomenal. The 30,000 sq. ft. facility houses (at current) around 1,000 individuals representing a hundred different species of reptiles and amphibians.

I'm super-pumped! I'll report in when I have the chance to visit them next.

Update: When searching for images for this article, I spotted one of my pictures in the top results of a Google Search. Moving up the food chain. We also recently hit 1,000 pageviews. Hooray!:

Article - Fire Ant Decapitating Flies

Posted by Alex H. |5 comments

Long time no see. It's busy season here at SU, but I have lots to share.

The topic of the day is like something out of a science-fiction story. Imagine an insect that lays its eggs inside an organism so that its larvae eats its hosts brain from the inside. Sound far-fetched?

Read this article from EcoTone.

Pretty insane, huh? These insects, phorid flies, apparently specifically target imported red fire ants for laying their eggs. They stalk fire ant mounds and oviposit one egg in an ant's thorax where the egg will hatch. The larva goes on to eat the ant-hosts brain causing the ant to wander aimlessly for hours until the larva causes the ant's head to fall off.

Creeeeeeepy.

Fire ants, as you may know, are not native to the USA, and are quite the stubborn pests. In fact, many scientists believe that their dominance over native harvester ants is partly responsible for the decline of the Texas horned lizard.

Who wants to see this cute face go? Certainly not me - although I believe that there's more to that story (for another post).

A similar article I recently read in the Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine described how the use of phorid flies as a biological control for fire ants is being taken to new heights.

Researchers have been experimenting with phorid flies since 1997, and in April 2009, AgriLife researchers released a species that was raised by a team at the University of Texas at Austin. Previously released species would attack only disturbed mounds, but the new species also targets undisturbed mounds and foraging ants. Other than a minimal amount of nectar consumption by adults, the phorid flies eat only fire ants, and each species of fly exclusively eats a certain species of ant.

That's incredible! These science-heavy phorid flies will now, according to this article, attack fire ants less judiciously and could push their invasive status down to a reasonable level.

Edit: I had uploaded a picture of a Desert Horned Lizard, not a Texas Horned Lizard. Whoops!

30 New Frog Species Found in Ecuador

Posted by Alex H. |2 comments

As a follower of Save the Frog's "Frog Blog," I get interesting articles about amphibian conservation and news from the field of herpetology. One recent post concerned a summary of several newly discovered species recently found in Ecuador, including thirty new species of frogs.

You can read the article HERE.

It continually amazes me that there are so many species yet unknown to science. Maybe more impressive than that is the number of vertebrate species still unknown. If this article interests you, read a couple of posts I've written about my opinions on biodiversity here and here, and also about new species discovery.

Museum of Living Art

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2009 was a rough year for everyone. Possibly the least popular year of the decade. One of the biggest let-downs I experienced in 2009 was the delayed opening for the Fort Worth Zoo's Museum of Living Art. Before I explain, allow me to remind you that my family visited the Ft. Worth Zoo last year with intentions of seeing some progress on this world-class project. Unfortunately, it appeared that delays had pushed its opening to sometime this spring.

What the heck am I talking about, pray tell? Only the construction of the world's most awesome herpetarium (like an aquarium, but for reptiles and amphibians)! This thing's going to be huge - probably the largest in the world (both in square footage, number of species, and possibly number of individuals).

When the zoo's current herpetarium opened in 1960, it held more species of reptiles and amphibians than any other facility. Throughout it's history, the staff have been responsible for the breeding of several individuals, included many rare and endangered species. This new facility will continue their previous vision, but with the world-class resources deserving of their world class efforts. In addition to housing more species than any other facility, the MOLA will continue and expand upon their significant conservation efforts for amphibians (If you would like to know more about their conservation efforts, read this article here).

The MOLA will have several different "habitat" areas for viewing by patrons, including a deserts, swamplands, and rain forests. Just check out this huge list of species the MOLA will be keeping, or should I say curating? If that doesn't get you salivating, you can view the online floor-plan for the new facility which indicates generally what will be exhibited. For zoo activity in the new decade, keep an eye out for the MOLA.

Here are two shinglebacks in the Fort Worth Zoo's current herpetarium. Shinglebacks are highly monogamous (single pair breeders). There are cases of them breeding with their mate (to the exclusion of other individuals) for up to twenty years:

Review - "The Diversity of Life"

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Prepare for the onslaught - I've promised myself to update this blog at least once a day for the next week. I have lots of ideas to share. Let's start:

"The Diversity of Life" is a most wonderful book I recently read by E.O. Wilson.

Where to begin?

For those not in the know, E.O. Wilson is a senior professor of Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and is the world expert on myrmecology (the scientific study of ants). Recipient of two Pulitzer prizes for general non-fiction, the man is also a brilliant science writer.

Certainly, DoL is not Wilson's most famous, nor most read book (he's written 25 to date), but ever since its first publishing date in 1992 those in the know have found its pressing and fascinating tone necessary for the topic. Though the title seems to speak for itself, I should note that the topic of the book is biodiversity. In it, Wilson sucks the reader into a comprehensive array of historic, anecdotal, scientific, and economic view points on studies of biodiversity.

In a previous work of his, Biophilia, Wilson puts forth the concept that there is an inseparable and instinctive connection between humans and other living things (see biophilia hypothesis). Though not as strongly, DoL restates the innate love for living systems humans share. Wilson also emphasizes the strategic, practical, and economic importance biodiversity gives to humanity.The following segment was the most poignant point I believe Wilson wishes everyone knew:

Every country has three forms of wealth: material, cultural, and biological. The first two we understand well because they are the substance of our everyday lives. the essence of the biodiversity problem is that biological wealth is taken much less seriously. This is a major strategic error, one that will be increasingly regretted as time passes (Wilson, p 331).

In all, this engrossing book leaves you feeling accomplished for having a more complete grasp of the topic of biological diversity, regardless of what kept you reading. Case studies and anecdotal accounts are side by side with easy-to-understand figures and beautiful illustrations by Sandra Landry & Amy B. Wright.

Overall: 5/5 - A superb synthesis of scientific knowledge on the topic with a conservation slant.

Biodiversity: How Wonderful

Posted by Alex H. |0 comments

Our planet is incredible.

It is incredible because it has water, has a reasonable temperature, a protective atmosphere, and solid ground amongst other things.

A unique facet of Earth's supremacy in the known cosmos is it's biodiversity, or richness and abundance, of species. Maybe you take biodiversity for granted when you walk out your door to grab the morning paper and see a well-cut lawn, shady apple blossoms, and that darned neighborhood cat. Stop for a moment and really take in everything that you can see from your doorstep - wherever that may be.

Bacteria, viruses, fungi, and algae, and protozoans cover, penetrate, and consume everything in your sight. Your lawn and landscaping are probably comprised of over twenty plant species including grasses, trees, flowering plants, and leafy plants alone. Butterflies, ladybugs, houseflies, praying mantises, roaches, ants, bees, wasps, fleas, and ticks fly, jump, and scuttle about. Insects make up a huge portion of our Earth's biodiversity - part of the reason you never think twice before swatting that pesky mosquito. If you're looking to the sky, you might see 5-15 bird species, depending on how hard you're looking, and how far from the equator you are. If you're lucky, you can look in some bushes, under tree roots, or in your drainage ditch and find a couple of reptile or amphibian species. Come back at night (we're talking ~2-4am here) and you might catch a glimpse of some of the mammalian fauna living in very close proximity to you. Raccoons, foxes, coyotes, mice, voles, rabbits, cats (though not necessarily native), and rarely cougars or wolves might be digging through your trash or scurrying through your yard and marking their territory. Hey, they were probably there thousands of years before you were.

And last but not least, you. If you are reading this post properly, you are most likely a human, Homo sapiens. You may not care that much about that, but consider your evolutionary ancestors, primates in Africa and Southeastern Eurasia. Isn't it incredible how you live where you do, when your ancestors lived where they did? Without cars, airplanes, or trains, they populated all seven continents and took reign of terrestrial Earth as we know it.

If that wasn't a bit shocking, well, it shouldn't be. If you live in North America, you only experience a fraction of the total diversity of our planet. Additionally, if you followed through with the thought experiment I just laid out, you've not even stepped out of a human civilized habitat. Forests, swamps, grasslands, river systems, and the ocean contain more species than you could count in your lifetime (probably more than 10 of your lifetimes, if you tried from day one until you were on your death bed - obviously unreasonable).

So what? If you've been under the weather, maybe you haven't heard about the deforestation of our tropical forests, bleaching of coral reefs, and algal blooms killing millions of fish across our wonderful planet. In short, these are bad for the preservation of biodiversity. Reducing and fragmenting forests kills species (roads in the Amazon wreck major havoc on the ecosystem).

I've been reading E.O. Wilson's The Diversity of Life, and will comment on this further once finished. In the meantime, know that Wilson makes a claim in complete confidence that biodiversity is our planet's most valuable and most abused resourced. If I help one person think about that for a while, I've succeeded with this post.

FYI: School at SU started about five weeks ago, and boy howdy if it isn't picking up. I update this blog periodically, and the intervals between posting will become more and more erratic throughout the semester. Nevertheless, expect the same or greater numbers of articles on average posted over time. Thanks for reading :)

Some Hope for Hunted Sea Turtles

Posted by Alex H. |0 comments

According to an Associated Press article by David McFadden, the Bahamas recently banned the sale or catch of any species of marine turtle.

Culturally popular for human consumption, sea turtles have required this sort of legal protection for too long. The five species of sea turtle inhabiting the waters of the Bahamian waters are listed as either endangered or threatened species. Previous to the bill, only the Hawksbill was afforded any legal protection from harvesting or hunting.

According to an ecoworldy article by Derek Markham:

The new regulations prohibit the harvesting, possession, purchase and sale of turtles, their parts and eggs, as well as the molestation of marine turtle nests, effective September 1st, 2009.

To get to this landmark legislation, several conservation groups played active roles, including: Oceana, The Bahamas Sea Turtle Conservation Group, and The Bahamas Marine Resources Department

According to the AP article, this legislation is unpopular with some proponents of preserving Bahamian culture. Fortunately, according to Jane Mather, co-chairwoman of The Bahamas Sea Turtle Conservation Group, ninety percent of Bahamians do not want sea turtles killed.

The penalties for breaking the ban are not currently determined.

Review - "Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting"

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What I expected: A dry account of scientific literature on the title's namesake.

What I got: Way more than that.

Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting, edited by Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore, is one of the most readable, yet thorough, summaries of a specific topic within science writing that I have read to date. Beyond paraphrased accounts of the drastically-underappreciated scientific studies examining the ecological consequences of artificial night lighting, each section of the book begins with a brief account of a relevant naturalist's anecdotal experiences observing organisms in their nocturnal environment and ends with a succinct, meaningful conclusion as to where we should go from now.

It should be obvious to anyone who has lived within 50 miles of a modern urbanized human society (that means you!) that urban glow lights up the sky unnaturally. ECoANL cites a paper by Cinzano et al. (2001) which calculated "18.7% of the terrestrial surface of the Earth experiences night sky brightness that is polluted by astronomical standards." This impressive figure continues to include 61.8% of the United States and 85.3% of the European Union.

The impact of turning our planet into a giant night light is startling.

Topics included in ECoANL: Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians (the reason why I picked it up in the first place), Fishes, Invertebrates, and Plants

On top of being a beautiful literature synthesis (at a good price), the main editors suggest reasonable and practical solutions to understanding and reducing the impact of artificial night lighting.

Overall: 5/5 - A model novel in the scientific writing community

Review: "Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation"

Posted by Alex H. |0 comments

"Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation" by Elizabeth A. Colburn is by far the most comprehensive and easy-to-understand account of the worlds's vernal pools.

What are vernal pools, you ask? Vernal pools or ponds are seasonal pools of water characterized by completely drying up seasonally. Filling up with early spring rains, snow melt, or ground water, most vernal pools dry up with summer heat.

Why care? Due to completely drying out seasonally, vernal pools are distinctly devoid of any fish species. Fish are common predators for many plants and animals, and when fish are absent, certain fauna are able to dominate. My interest is obviously centered around the fantastic breeding opportunities vernal pools offer amphibians. Because most amphibians (frogs, salamanders, newts, etc...) must lay their eggs in fresh water, lakes with fish who would eat the eggs just don't cut it. Instead, vernal pools or similar pools of water provide the stability and protection necessary for eggs to develop into tadpoles, and eventually adults.

VP methodically devotes reasonable amounts of text to each aspect of vernal pools based on their importance to the ecosystem. This was a particularly important point to me, showing Colburn's successful attempts to reduce her innate authorial biases.

This book has chapters on the following topics: Introduction to Vernal Pools; Hydrology; Vernal Pools in the Landscape: Origins, Landscape Positions, and Habitat Characteristics; Bacteria, Protists, Algae, and Fungi; Vegetation; Life History Strategies of Pool Animals, Non-Arthropod Invertebrates; Crustaceans; Insects; Water Mites and Miscellaneous Other Arthropods; Amphibians; Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals; Energy Flow, Seasonal Cycles, and Variations in Community Composition; Protecting Vernal Pools; and a nice Afterword.

Overall: 5/5 - Great and current science writing.

Research Bit/Field Trip - UNDERC-East

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Talk about things I'm thankful for...

For the past 10 weeks of this summer, I've been trekking around night and day through the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC-East).

My reason for making the 1,500-mile journey by train and van was a program aimed at training the ecological researchers of tomorrow. Five concentrated module weeks focus on Mammalogy and Ornithology (study of birds), Aquatic Ecology, Forest Ecology (silviculture), Aquatic Ecology, and Herpetology (sweet!)

In addition to these focused module weeks, each of 24 college students (myself included) completed an original research project using the generous facilities and wildlife provided by the station (akin to an REU).

10 weeks of ecological research in the northern hardwoods taught me a great deal about ecology, physiology, and animal behavior. More importantly, however, was a practical glimpse at the research process in action. I may comment on it further in another post, but this experience gave me the insight necessary to determine that I will pursue a Ph.D. in some topic of behavioral ecology. That insight is something unable to be taught effectively in a classroom setting, and I am thankful for it.

I recommend viewing their intuitive website for a more in-depth view of the aims, history, and research of this wonderful ecological research site.

A future post will more fully explain my successful research project conducted at UNDERC-East.

Now for some pictures (image names give a brief descriptor):

Research Bit - Anuran Call Surveys

Posted by Alex H. |0 comments

Now for one of my favorite things about being a student at SU - anuran call survey research!

What are anurans, you ask? Anurans are frogs, all in the order Anura. Toads, which are just specialized frogs, are also in this order.

Along with SU student Giulia Giuffre, Dr. Pierce and I conducted NAAMP (North American Amphibian Monitoring Program) surveys at 40 sites in central Texas. Once a week, we chugged away to rural central Texas and recorded frog calls using a NAAMP protocol. To practice for field work, we quizzed ourselves weekly using an online NAAMP frog quiz. In total, we trained ourselves to be able to identify the male breeding advertisement calls of 41 species of frogs.

My project, titled "Call Latencies and Breeding Call Detection Ranges of Anurans in Central Texas," contributed to the scientific community's knowledge of the dates during which anurans in central Texas call. Additionally, my project was the first paper that analyzed a potentially useful correlate easily obtained during NAAMP surveys - call latency. We defined call latency as the time in seconds each species was heard after the start of an anuran call survey. Although we were not able to correlate call latency with air temperature, our future research may be able to find a biotic or abiotic factor that influences this new measure.

My independent research with Dr. Ben Pierce has convinced me that a professional career in herpetology is not only possible, but hugely rewarding! In case you haven't gotten the memo, herpetology is the scientific study reptiles and amphibians. Herpetology is an exciting field of research, especially because of the diverse ways in which it can be approached. Population genetics, vertebrate morphology, behavioral neuroscience, and natural history are popular topics using reptiles or amphibians as model organisms. More on that later, though. :)

If you would like a copy of my paper, email me at halla(at)southwestern.edu