Valeria and I were recently invited to give a talk for the Helicopter Science series at the University of Florida. We presented our fieldwork equity paper and had a lively discussion with students and faculty across departments about how to rethink our approaches in field-based research.
Here are some of their thoughts:
Valeria and I enjoyed the subtropical climate very much.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kate Montana, Becca, and Lawrence Uricchio were able to conduct a safe field collection trip to the Presidio, with the help of Jonathan Young in early October 2020. The animals that we collected that day are in the process of being accessioned — the first Pseudacris from San Francisco that have been added to the MVZ collection since 1923!
9:45am 03/11/2021. Adding some more information: This population of P. regilla is actually pretty interesting. The frog hadn’t been present in the Presidio for some time. They were recently reintroduced from a community garden in the potrero hill area. According to Jonathan Young, when that pond was removed by MUNI, some frog-loving folks relocated the frogs to the then recently created Presidio "dune pond." Thus, the frogs in this marsh are from SF, and actually there are still some P. regilla on private property near potrero hill, at least as of 5 years ago. This marshy area is marked off-limits to dog-walkers, to help preserve the area for the frogs to rebound.
The mostly drained east arm of Mountain Lake, where frogs (Pseudacris regilla) were found on dewy plants near the marshy pond.
Presidio of San Francisco, 11 October 2020
Valeria successfully brought two snakes (on a plane) from the Amazon to Bogotá, Colombia, where she was able to obtain flash frozen tissues. Then she laboriously organized the export of the tissues to the USA (plane #2) while ensuring that they remain frozen, up until they arrived to the Vertebrate Genome Project lab this week (plane #3). We are so excited to process our first snake genome!
Meet Sandrita, the first of her species (Erythrolamprus reginae) to have her genome sequenced.
For an ongoing project, we needed some fresh caecilian tissue. Caecilians are fossorial amphibians that are notoriously difficult to locate in the field. Fortunately, Majo is currently in Ecuador and knew exactly where to find one: Yanayacu! Incredible find Majo.
Caecilia orientalis
Caecilia orientalis
Valeria is currently in the Amazonian town of Leticia, Colombia, studying snakes that eat frogs. She will be conducting some difficult field research involving behavioral trials with several snake species. We wish her luck!
