Heard in the News

2012 Designated YEAR OF THE LIZARD

Conservation groups in partnership with PARC have designated 2012 as the Year of the Lizard

Alison Haskell Award

Introducing the Alison Haskell Award for Excellence in Herpetofaunal Conservation

This Award is presented annually by Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC), in memory of Alison Haskell (1956 – 2006), to recognize an individual in North America who exemplifies extraordinary commitment to herpetofaunal conservation, as did Alison.

Congratulations to our 2011 Alison Haskell Award Winner!

The 2012 nomination period is closed.

The 2012 winner will be announced in March; stay tuned, and see below for additional details.

PARC Visionary Leader Award

In 2011, PARC initiated the Visionary Leader Award. This award recognizes an individual in North America who exemplifies extraordinary leadership, vision, and commitment, specifically to PARC, in a manner that has carried PARC to new heights and has significantly forwarded the PARC mission.

Congratulations to our 2011 PARC Visionary Leader Award Winner!

Climate Change and Herpetofauna

Climate Change and Herpetofauna

As scenarios of variable climate conditions unfold, species at the limits of their environmental tolerances will be especially at risk. In addition to predicting effects of altered climates on herpetofauna, management alternatives need to be designed to ensure habitat quality and connectivity. Vulnerabilities will need to be assessed.

PARC is bridging the science-management interface relative to identifying known and potential consequences of climate variation on amphibians and reptiles, and communicating adaptation management approaches.

Relocation, Reintroduction, Tranlocation, and Headstarting

RRTH projects are being used as stop-gap measures for rare species conservation relative to a variety of conservation concerns. These approaches can have high costs in terms of money and mortality of precious rare animals, hence lessons learned from ongoing efforts are important to convey. Our spreadsheet attached below is an initial compilation of projects for amphibians, reptiles and turtles, and will be updated occasionally. Contact information is provided if you would like to ask specific questions about successes or failures to project leaders. Please submit your spreadsheet additions and revisions to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Worldwide projects can be added. Many thanks to PARC's RRTH Task Team members JD Kloepfer and Tracey Tuberville for their hard work to initiate this effort.

April 15, 2011 version available HERE

2011 Designated YEAR OF THE TURTLE!

Turtle conservation groups in partnership with PARC have designated 2011 as the Year of the Turtle

PARC 10-Year Anniversary

10 Years of PARC!

2009 marked the 10th anniversary of Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.

Established as one of the most ambitious conservation partnerships in the country, PARC brings together representatives of science and education, industry and commerce, state and federal government, conservation societies, pet and field hobbyists, and the general public from across the US plus Canada and Mexico. PARC stands alone internationally as being the only partnership to address the conservation of all amphibians and reptiles. CLICK HERE to download and view the commemorative brochure (3 MB PDF), highlighting all of the great projects and partners involved in our efforts. 

Download PARC's 10-year anniversary commemorative brochure

Global Bd Mapping Project: Update -- July 2010

Another effort to compile Bd data worldwide has been completed!

Background information on the project can be found at our  earlier posts.

Global Bd Mapping Project Update --- January 2008

This is an update to the project initiated about one year ago, to compile information on the global distribution of Bd. A brief summary of the project was provided in April 2007. Here, we report on our findings for data compiled up until November 2007, and presented at the Bd Conference in Tempe, Arizona.

Trends in Sex Ratios of Turtles in the United States: Implications of Road Mortality

James P. Gibbs* And David A. Steen+
Conservation Biology
Volume 19 Issue 2 Page 552 - April 2005

Affiliations
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 350 Illick Hall, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, U.S.A.

Correspondence
*email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Current address: Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, Route 2, Box 2324, Newton, GA 39870, U.S.A.

Abstract:

Road mortality has been implicated as a significant demographic force in turtles, particularly for females, which are killed disproportionately on overland nesting movements. Moreover, the United States' road network has expanded dramatically over the last century. We therefore predicted that historical trends in sex ratios of turtle populations would be male biased. To test this prediction, we synthesized published estimates of population-level sex ratios in freshwater and terrestrial turtles in the United States (165 estimates for 36 species, published 1928-2003). Our analysis suggests that the proportion of males in populations has increased linearly (p= 0.001); the trend in male bias is synchronized with the expansion of the surfaced portion of the road network since 1930; sex ratios became more male biased in states with higher densities of roads; and populations have become more male biased in aquatic species, in which movement differentials between males and females are greatest, and are least biased in semiaquatic and terrestrial species, in which overland movements are more comparable between sexes. Our results suggest an ongoing depletion of breeding females from wild turtle populations over the last century because of many factors, including, and perhaps chiefly, road mortality.