Are you involved in amphibian research and conservation? Have your say!
The following questionnaire is investigating perceptions of success in conservation among people involved in amphibian research and conservation practice, with the aim of trying to understand how scientists and practitioners view conservation success around the world. Since these perceptions influence the development of conservation programmes, as well as their funding and political support, the questionnaire addresses the importantance of gaining a better idea of what these perceptions are in order to improve the overall impact of amphibian conservation programmes. This information gathered from the questionnaire will also lead into a subsequent study where the organizers will use two project evaluation tools to assess the performance of a sample of amphibian conservation programmes, looking for predictors of success in terms of project management and outcomes. They will later contrast the notions of success from the questionnaire results with these objective assessments to see how well they align.
All responses to this survey will be treated with complete confidence, and anonymously for the purposes of all analysis.
Please visit the following survey to give your views on what ‘success’ means in amphibian conservation: www.zsl.org/helenmeredith
(Direct link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LZJCT6Z)
During WCH-7, The UBC Bookstore will be selling:
Amphibians and Reptiles of British Columbia
Brent M. Matsuda, David M. Green and Patrick T. Gregory
All three authors will be attending WCH-7, so be sure to pick up your copy!
Please quote discount code CSC12 to receive 15% off your purchase! For hours and location, visit the UBC Bookstore website
How to Turn Your Thesis or Dissertation Chapter into a Publishable Manuscript & Participate in the Peer-Review Process
A Workshop for Students on Writing and Publishing
World Congress of Herpetology 2012
Friday, 10 August 12 – 2 pm
Co-sponsored by HL & SSAR
This workshop and panel discussion is for graduate students who are interested in turning their graduate work into publishable manuscripts, learning about the publication process and how to incorporate peer review into their professional career. Publication is the generally accepted academic outlet for science; really cool findings, conservation implications, new species or exciting experiments aren’t very interesting if no one knows about them. The goals of the workshop are: To provide an understanding of the mechanics of submitting a manuscript and successfully seeing it through the publication process. Topics include: transforming the thesis to a manuscript, de-mystifying the review process, interpreting your reviews, responding to reviewers, participating in the peer review process.
Panelists include Editors and Associate Editors from Amphibia-Reptilia, Copeia, Herpetologica, The Herpetological Journal, Herpetological Review and The Journal of Herpetology.
VertNet Roundtable Discussion at WCH-7: Tuesday, August 14th, 9am-12pm
Carla Cicero, Carol Spencer, John Wieczorek, Hank Bart and Nelson Rios will host an open discussion of the NSF-funded project VertNet (http://vertnet.org) to bring vertebrate biodiversity data (including ORNIS, HerpNET, FishNet2, and MaNIS) into the cloud. We will preview the new data platform, discuss current status and developments, and answer questions about the project. This is an opportunity to engage with the VertNet PIs and developers to address questions and concerns. Anyone who is interested in VertNet, either as a data provider and/or a data user, is welcome to attend. The meeting will be held in Mary Murrin Room 2 in the Gage Commons Block of the Gage Towers, UBC.
10th Annual Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles
The 10th Annual Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles will be hosted August 16-19, 2012 in Tucson, Arizona. The meeting, sponsored by Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc., is co-hosted by the Turtle Survival Alliance and the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG). The symposium has hosted an average of more than 200 attendees over the past six years and represents the largest gathering of non-marine turtle biologists in the world, providing an unmatched opportunity for networking and strategizing turtle conservation.
The host city of Tucson is in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. The months of July and August bring monsoon rains that make the desert spring to life with herps, providing wonderful opportunities to see some of North America’s most charismatic reptiles. We hope that you can join us.
Please follow this link for more information: http://www.turtlesurvival.org/get-involved/conference
Research and Collecting Permits
Wildlife in British Columbia (including amphibians and reptiles) are protected under the Wildlife Act and its associated regulations. The BC Permit and Authorization Service Bureau (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/pasb/) handles the issuing of all permits under the Wildlife Act.
A Wildlife Sundry Permit is required for any of the following activities: possession of dead wildlife or wildlife parts; capturing, possessing, transporting or importing live wildlife; and trapping, hunting, or killing wildlife for scientific research (see http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/pasb/fw_permreg.html for more information). To collect fish for scientific purposes, a Scientific Fish Collection Permit is required. An Export Permit is required to transport wildlife outside of British Columbia.
To apply for a Wildlife Sundry Permit, please follow the appropriate links/instructions at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/pasb/applications/process/wildlife.html.
To apply for a Scientific Fish Collection Permit, please go to: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/pasb/applications/process/scientific_fish_collect.html.
To apply for an Export Permit, go to: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/pasb/applications/process/export_permit.html
Collection of marine fish requires a permit from Fisheries and Oceans Canada:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/licence-permis/sci/index-eng.htm
Conflicting Conferences
Ecological Society of America
The Ecological Society of America is holding its annual meeting August 5th to 10th in Portland Oregon, which is only 315 miles (500km) from Vancouver. To help those herpetologists/ecologists who want to attend both meetings (and present at least at ESA), and would therefore need to leave ESA early to attend WCH, ESA organizers make this suggestion:
1) submit a poster abstract
2) choose “reptiles and amphibians” as your highest ranked choice of theme (#1).
They offer to make one or more poster sessions out of such submissions and to schedule those sessions for earlier in the week. They cannot make a similar promise if people submit talks or choose various themes as their top choice because they could end up scheduled in many different sessions throughout the meeting.
