We were
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.
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
A small contingent from the Tarvin Lab attended JMIH this year
Kannon Pearson and Becca Tarvin
But many folks from AmphibiaWeb were there…
Left to right: Emma Steigerwald, Alejandro Catenazzi, David Cannatella, David Blackburn, Rebecca Tarvin, Michelle Koo, Jim McGuire, Molly Womack
As well as many past and present UC Berkeley / MVZ people
