XVI Reunión Nacional de Herpetología (Jan 16-20, 2023)

Becca was invited to give a keynote talk at the Mexican Herpetology Meetings this year along with Jim McGuire, Roberto Fisher, and Laura Alencar.

From left to right: Hibraim Adán Pérez-Mendoza (UNAM), Ricardo Figueroa Huitrón (UNAM), Anny Peralta-García (UABC), Robert Fisher (USGS), Jim McGuire (UC Berkeley), Laura Alencar (Yale), Enrique Sandoval Orozco (REDTOX), Ana Bertha Gatica-Colima (UACJ), Rebecca Tarvin (UC Berkeley), Leticia M. Ochoa-Ochoa (UNAM), Óscar Flores-Villela (UNAM), Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio (UABC)

The event was kindly hosted by the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Ensenada. I’ll note that we almost didn’t arrive in time for my talk because heavy rains in southern California closed off several routes from San Diego to Ensenada!

During the conference, we got to meet Robert Fisher’s team while they transported red-legged frogs across the border from Mexico to the USA to expand genetic diversity of small populations in California. Learn more: https://www.fws.gov/story/2021-03/return-red-legged-frogs

The eggs are kept in a cooler for the drive. All work is done with appropriate permits and consideration to local population stability.

Also I want to give a big shout-out to one of my favorite talks of the conference, by Héctor Alexis Castro-Bastidas and José Manuel Serrano about Ciencia Ciudadana en La Investigación Ecológica De Los Anfibios De Sinaloa, México. See more about their project here: https://www.facebook.com/AnfibiosdeSinaloa They’ve been working to heavily involve local communities in registering herpetofauna on iNaturalist. See their project here: https://www.naturalista.mx/projects/anfibios-de-sinaloa and a publication about their efforts: https://herpetologia.fciencias.unam.mx/index.php/revista/article/view/372