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

URAP students Bri Baumbach and Marc Bonnot have been working hard all semester on a project led by Max Lambert to quantify morphological differences across the range of the Cascades Frog (Rana cascadae). This species is undergoing review for listing under the United States Endangered Species Act. Bri and Marc will provide evidence for morphological differences among populations that will help in assessing whether Cascades Frog should become a listed species. The data will be merged with an ongoing genomic analysis by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (led by Max) to determine whether there is any important genetic and anatomical differentiation among Cascades Frog populations.

Bri and Marc measuring specimens in the MVZ

As the semester winds down, we were able to set up a visit for URAP students Bri and Marc to visit the CAS Herpetology collection (thanks Lauren for hosting!) to measure more Rana cascadae specimens. Lauren made time to show us the irreplaceable Galapagos tortoise shell collection. We learned that the animals were collected in 1905, and that during the collection trip the CAS burned down in the SF earthquake. The tortoises were then the new foundation of the collection when they arrived. At the time of their collection, more than 15,000 tortoises were being killed annually for various reasons (many for meat or other animal products).

Bri, Becca, and Marc with the tortoises. Photo by Lauren Scheinberg