New forum Catagory for all us nerds!!!!

[Ryan Wunsch]

Tim Cranwill and myself were discussing Ian’s Iguana Necropsy post and the discussion arising from it, and we hit upon an idea that I think is very good.

As mentioned in a post earlier today - I think that the "hobby people" and the "science people" should share more ideas because there are certainly many theories and Ideas that have already been talked about, that are worthy of research, study and grants.

HISS has a lot of members currently that are "hobby people" and "science people" at the same time as evidenced by the many recent discussions that are of a scientific nature.

As far as I know, a meshing of hobbyists and researchers has never been seen on any reptile forum before.

If this forum does show to be popular, I think I would invite a few people (Dr. Frye for example) to join in on the discussion. If anyone reading this knows of people who might be interested in some of the discussion, feel free to invite them to join.

If it would take off in a big way sometime in the future, we could split it from the general HISS member’s forum, and make it larger than just a section.

I hope a lot of HISS members partake in this catagory, and don't feel hesitant to do so because they don't feel comfortable not having a university degree or something like that. Some of the best scientific findings come from questions and comments that "non scientific" types bring forth. I think many times it seems as though the people involved in scientific study, don't think of some of the things that the general public might hit apon.

Similar to this, is how I've been asked reptile questions by young naive kids, which I do not beleive science has ever thought to answer.

Hope everyone enjoys the new category

Ryan (and Tim)

[Tim Cranwill]

I think it will be a great thing for your forum and club, Ryan. I hope it takes off in a big way!

[joeysgreen]

I think there are two versions of a monitoring program.

1) Done by scientists, field researchers ect. who capture, weigh, measure, take samples ect on the animals they find. Concentrated efforts are used to collect more animals (drift nets, pit traps ect). The benefits of this method are obvious, yet permits and expertise may limit this from becoming an expansive project that includes the public.

2) A strictly visual (or audio as per frog's calling) account is all that is necessary for a field survey however. The benefit of this is that you'll be able to have true hordes of data as the general public can join in; and cover more ground than any team of researchers could ever dream of.
Now, the average public doesn't know dick about identifying herps, yet it isn't hard to educate those interested in native herpetofauna (and those uninterested won't join anyways).
When I joined the AAMP (Alberta Amphibian Monitoring Program), they mailed me a package that included a full colour guide of native herps, a description, keys to telling species apart, descriptions of tadpoles, egg formations ect. The package also sent a tape (now they send a CD I think) of all the frog calls (and a bullsnake...lol) I'm pretty good at Id'ing frogs by call now, although if I went to a new area of the province I'd have to brush up on those species.
When documenting a find, a person should include the species, the date found, a detailed description of where (range roads, GPS, addresses, lakeshore, grassy field, forest, under rock, ect) The more detail the better. Also of help is the weather, temperature, humidity, time of day ect. Of course a picture is worth a thousand words, and adds credibility as well.

Now this works because you've narrowed the population to the interested and the informed, and you eventually will have enough data to curve out a few inaccuracies. Odd ball sightings that don't fit the map can always be resurveyed later.

So, method #2 doesn't have as much integrety as #1 per sighting, but the shear amount of data allows scientists to follow trends (like predicting the leopard frog decline back in the 70's), and for pretty accurate range maps to be produced. I should give you Kris Kendell's email, he could help you out and give you pointers to ensure the data collected is usefull, relevent, and managed in an effecient way. I'll pass it on when I get to my home computer Kris is a great guy and helps me with anything herp related!

Ian

[Ryan Wunsch]

I should give you Kris Kendell's email, he could help you out and give you pointers to ensure the data collected is usefull, relevent, and managed in an effecient way. I'll pass it on when I get to my home computer Kris is a great guy and helps me with anything herp related!

That would be great, thank you.

Ryan