A few members of the Leaché lab (Charles Linkem, Matt McElroy, and P.I. Adam) have just returned from the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in Chattanooga, TN. All of us successfully presented our own research, and I upped the ante by entering the Herpetologists’ League graduate student award competition. I was happy with my talk (titled “Those dammed frogs: investigating the impacts of river dams on the micro-population genetic structure of the coastal tailed frog (Ascaphus truei) using thousands of SNPs”), and ended up getting 2nd place out of 20 competitors! The prize was a small check, and a copy of “Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference” that Roy McDiarmid graciously signed for me!
A couple friends and colleagues from U. of Michigan (Pascal Title) and CSU Northridge (including Bobby Espinoza) made it out to Signal Mountain for herping one night. We found seven species, including Eurycea, Plethodon, Bufo, and Carphophis!
Next year, it’s on in Brasil!