Expedition Angano

Here at Dispatches we love the support we get from the blogging community near and far – thank you! This week we wanted to showcase some of the work done  by other bloggers in the community.   Today’s dispatch is a story originally told on Mark Scherz personal blog ( http://www.markscherz.com/blog) and we are lucky enough to re-post it here today!  Mark is a PhD student at the Zoologische Staatssammlung München (ZSM), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Technische Universität Braunschweig where he studies the reptiles and amphibians of Madagascar. For more stories and updates from Mark, follow him on Twitter @MarkScherz 

Note the distinct edges of the forest fragments to the right of this image.

From December 2015 to January 2016, I traveled with a team of researchers from the UK and Madagascar to a remote forest in Northern Madagascar. Our goal was to characterise the reptile and amphibian fauna of this forest, and to study a phenomenon called the ‘edge effect’ and how it influences the distribution of these animals. The trip was called Expedition Angano.

In order to study these effects basic knowledge is needed on habitats, abiotic characteristics, and of course, the local fauna. We collected all of this data by setting semi-permanent transects along which reptiles and amphibians were observed, the vegetation was characterized, and temperature were measured. My role in this project was to identify species in the field, and collect specimens for later investigation. Half of these would of course stay in Madagascar, while the rest would come with me back to Munich.The concept of the edge effect is simple: habitats bordering other habitats form edges. These edges can be gradual or sharp, and consist of a turnover in biotic and abiotic factors, such as leaf litter depth, relative humidity, and hours of sunlight per day. As you would expect, animals change with the environment, with more drought tolerant species being found closer to or beyond the first edge, and humidity dependent species being found only inside the forest. It is not always possible to predict which species is going to be found in which part of the edge region, especially for poorly understood species like the herpetofauna of Madagascar. The depth of edge effects is also variable. It is important to understand the role of habitat edges in determining species composition and abundance, so that conservation measures can be properly informed.

During this main phase of the project, we collected 46 species of reptiles and amphibians. Of these, at least twelve do not yet have names, and of these, four are almost certainly new to science. I will begin description work on some of these species soon. We are in the process of performing statistics on the distributions of all of the encountered species in order to assess how they are distributed relative to the edges of the focal forest.

Platypelis grandis

Boophis andreonei

Spinomantis peraccae

Guibemantis liber

Mantidactylus femoralis

Boophis sp. nov. (previously known only from tadpoles)

Stumpffia sp. nov.

Uroplatus sp. Ca1

Mantidactylus sp. nov.

Uroplatus sikorae

Boophis sp. nov. (previously known only from tadpoles)

Plethodontohyla guentheri

Mantidactylus cf. biporus

Gephyromantis horridus

After the main phase of the project, I continued to a second site with one student, two guides, and the driver, and we performed a series of rapid faunistic assessments of different small forest fragments along the RN31 between Bealanana and Antsohihy. This research was on forests much nearer to the main road, and in consequence, the forest was quite significantly more degraded. The main goal was to find adults of species that had previously been known only from tadpoles collected in the same area. This was only partially successful, as we managed to find just one of the desired species. However, I still succeeded in finding some really interesting animals (almost all frogs), some of which are probably new to science.

Guibemantis liber

Gephyromantis sp. cf. Ca28

Stumpffiacf. pardus, one of the new species described

Compsophis sp. aff. albiventris

 

Mantidactylus sp. (aff. zavona?)

Over the last few months, we have been working on the preliminary report from the main portion of the expedition. This report should be finalised and sent around to our funders and stakeholders in the next few weeks, after which it will be made freely available online.

Participating in science: a citizen’s guide

This week, Dispatches from the Field is excited to welcome back another familiar guest blogger: Kim Stephens, a graduate of Queen’s University who now works for the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust.  Kim shares with us the importance of citizen science and some of the many opportunities for citizen scientists to get out in the field!

I’m flipping the blog this week: instead of bringing the field experiences to the community, I’m aiming to bring the community to the field! Since finishing my undergrad, I’ve moved into the environmental not-for-profit world, working at the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust as a ‘BioBlitz Coordinator’.  My job involves planning events which teach the public about species found in their area, while giving them an opportunity to interact with local flora and fauna in the field.

The aptly-named violet coral fungus.

I love BioBlitzes! They’re a great way to get outdoors, explore nature, and learn about the species found in different habitats. Here’s what happens: over a 24 hour period, taxonomic experts and volunteers work in small groups to complete a full biological inventory of a property, identifying all the birds, trees, insects… you get the drift. BioBlitzes have taken Ontario and Canada by storm, with dozens of them taking place across the country last year for Canada’s 150^th.  The Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust hosted three BioBlitzes last year, and identified over 700 species in total! It’s a great way for volunteers to contribute to the knowledge that organizations need to direct management activities – and it’s also extremely fun! From exploring the leaf litter to find a violet coral fungus, to trying to spot an Eastern Wood-pewee calling in the forest, or sneaking up on a butterfly or dragonfly to catch and identify it, there’s something for everyone. With an estimated 140,000 species in Canada, only half of which have been identified, there are always new species to learn about and discover. Which will you find at a BioBlitz?

Although BioBlitzes are relatively new, having started in the late 1990s in the United States, ‘citizen science’ initiatives have been around for over 100 years. Simply put, they are ways for the general population to contribute data to scientific projects, and often require little more than a smartphone by way of equipment. There are many initiatives available for you to get involved in, whether you want to attend an event locally, or contribute data to provincial, national, or global projects.

Below are just some of the many other ways to get involved in citizen science.

Join me in the field:

Christmas Bird Count

A male and female downy woodpecker spending a cold winter morning together.

Last December, I participated in my first (and second) CBC. This annual bird census is administered by the National Audubon Society and has been around for over 100 years. For several chilly hours we hiked through conservation areas and drove through the countryside, counting every single bird we saw or heard in a pre-set 24km diameter circle. I was paired with birders who were far more experienced in identification than me. They took me under their wing and taught me tricks for remembering ID features. Once I was more confident in my skills, they encouraged me to try them out, confirming the correct IDs. It’s amazing to think that the species I saw on one winter day – as well as the species I should have seen but didn’t – could contribute to peer-reviewed scientific articles. I can’t wait to participate again next season.

Continue the research at home:

iNaturalist

I love getting out into the field and learning about what’s out there. During my undergraduate research project, in addition to measuring plants, I met a grey rat snake, lots of snapping and painted turtles, spiders, birds, and more. That summer, I snapped endless pictures of critters I either found fascinating or hadn’t encountered before. I was taking pictures because I loved doing it. But now, with smartphone apps like iNaturalist, anyone can take pictures and contribute directly to research, right from their phone! The primary goal of this app is to connect people to nature, and I find it great for those moments when you think: “Look at the cool thing I found… what is it?”. Users can post pictures of the species they see, and other users will add their identification to the picture. So there’s no need to worry: you don’t need to know what you’re taking a photo of. I sure didn’t know what mating adult caddisflies looked like until last summer!

Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas

Northern map turtles basking in the summer sunshine.

Turtles, frogs, snakes, salamanders and a skink: we have several species of reptiles and amphibians in Ontario, and many are at risk. But the full distribution of some species is unknown. This is not because their habitat doesn’t exist, or there aren’t individuals present, but simply because no one has reported seeing that species in that location. To address this issues, Ontario Nature developed a very useful app – the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas (ORAA)– that allows you to report sightings of these species across the province. If you find individuals, reporting them to the ORAA can provide crucial information to help scientists accurately map the distribution of species.

eBird

I’ve picked up a new hobby since participating in the CBC: birding. As of last summer, I could identify about 20 different birds. Over the winter I became confident about a few dozen more. By the end of the year, I’m hoping that number breaks 3 digits. I’ve recently started logging my sightings into eBird, which allows you to submit ‘checklists’ of birds you’ve identified. Whether you went out birding for 4 hours, or watched your feeder for a few minutes, you can report species that you saw on eBird, adding to population and distribution records.  You can even submit reports from a ‘wild goose chase’ – that is, trying to spot a rare bird that is only around by accident, such as a Barnacle Goose.  Although the species is native to Greenland and Europe, I saw the directionally confused individual in the photo below an hour north of Toronto in Schomberg. If you want, you can even make it competitive, by adding to your personal life list. It’s like real-life Pokemon – gotta find them all!

A single Barnacle Goose among hundreds of Canada Geese in Schomberg, ON

I really hope you can join me this summer at a BioBlitz, on a wild goose chase, or digitally on iNaturalist, ORAA, or eBird!

Kim Stephens is a graduate of Fleming College, and Queen’s University, where she researched the relationship between the different metrics of plant body size. She is now working for the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust, getting people outside to explore and learn about nature. When not in the office or at a BioBlitz, she enjoys directing Quidditch tournaments and trying to photograph every species of butterfly she can find.  Follow her on Twitter at  @kastep15.

Bringing the Field Back to the Community

We are very excited to welcome a fellow #scicomm fanatic to the blog today! Tianna Burke tells us all about bringing fieldwork back to the community. For more about Tianna, see the end of this post.

This year I have been lucky enough to put two of my favourite things together in my current position with the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve (GBBR) – field work and outreach education.

As a UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserve, one of our missions at GBBR is to support the conservation of biodiversity through education and public outreach to foster a sense of shared responsibility to protect this special place.  In 2017, GBBR has helped support conservation efforts through the work we have done thanks to funding from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Canadian Wildlife Service grant programs. Part of this effort was the monitoring of massasauga rattlesnake gestation sites and foxsnake hibernation sites.

This field work made me feel so lucky to live here! It allowed me to see amazing tracts of forest, fantastic rock outcrops, and some of the incredible islands out on Georgian Bay.  The geology around here is something else!

When you are in the field so often, you are also more likely to see species other people rarely get to see.  On one of our site visits we spotted this amazing Eastern hog-nosed snake, which put on quite the dramatic performance. This species is known for the dramatic hissing and cobra-like displays it employs before resorting to its plan B – playing dead. It looks terrifying, but is actually harmless!

So, why is it important for us to monitor gestation and hibernation sites?  Well, because these areas are essential to the life cycle of these two species at risk. During July and August, we surveyed a variety of rock outcrops for gestating massasauga rattlesnakes. Massasaugas gestate alone, however they can be within proximity to other snakes.  Shorter summers in Parry Sound mean that most of our massasaugas give birth every 2-3 years, whereas in more southern areas they are known to have yearly litters.  A litter can consist anywhere from 5-20 neonates (baby rattlesnakes)! Since it’s important to monitor these areas regularly to ensure habitat availability and quality, we were able to partner with other organizations and individuals for future monitoring.

A beautiful massasauga rattlesnake

Foxsnake hibernation site surveys were conducted on properties that had been monitored back in 2004, as part of a University of Guelph master’s thesis. Most of these snakes were known to hibernate on islands and lay their eggs inland. Unlike the massasauga, foxsnakes do not give live birth. We wanted to see if they were still available and active 13 years later (hint: excitingly, they were!!).

Holding a beautiful foxsnake

Since we are working in an area with venomous snakes there are safety protocols that we obviously need to follow.  These include wearing high-ankle hiking boots, long pants, and carrying, snake hooks. If we got lucky and found a snake, we would capture and process it, which included taking photos and checking for pit-tags. Pit tags are tiny microchip, similar to what a pet dog or cat would get, that are implanted just under the skin.  Although we don’t tag snakes ourselves, many of them may be pit-tagged thanks to a history of snake research in the Parry Sound area, especially at Killbear Provincial Park.

One might assume that the most difficult part of this job was working with a venomous and potentially dangerous snake. However, that wasn’t the case! In fact, the most difficult part is challenging the misconceptions that surround snakes.

Doing some snake outreach in the community

The massasauga rattlesnake is Ontario’s only venomous snake, and the eastern foxsnake mimics the massasauga by rattling its tail when threatened.  Due to habitat loss and persecution by humans, they have both been listed as species at risk. There are so many misconceptions about snakes by people who live in and visit the Georgian Bay area, but social media has been a fun way to bust some of these myths.

Social media platforms allow us to reach more people than conventional methods of outreach such as booths and presentations.  I’m sure many people reading this blog have heard of Scicomm, or science communication, and this is pretty much what we are aiming to do – bring the field to everyone’s computer.

But how do you grab people’s interest?  By coming up with engaging and unique posts!  One of my personal favourite ways of doing this is using the #TriviaTuesday or #WildlifeWednesday hashtags!  These have made our posts fun and informative and have resulted in higher engagement levels. People love a good game, but they also learn from our trivia, as it revolves around the species biology, identification, or safety.  Here are just a few of the examples!

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One of our biggest hits on Facebook was a post I wrote about rattlesnake neonates. I was a little worried that there would be some negative feedback about “breeding rattlesnakes”; however, it was quite the opposite.  We wanted this post to share the excitement of a successful breeding attempt by a species at risk, so we chose to take the same approach as we would for humans: we made it a birth announcement!  It was positively received by most people on our page and also by the local radio station.

The birth announcement

Georgian Bay is an amazing place because of the beautiful scenery and amazing creatures that live here.  Many times the public only sees the scenery and rarely the species within it.  Even when we, as biologists, go out into the field looking for certain species, we often have to do more than one survey because they are so cryptic and hard to find.

Much of what is known about some species, especially snakes, is what has been portrayed by folklore, popular media, or family/friends, often leading people to be afraid of or dislike these important creatures.  By running trivia games and writing unique social media posts, I hope that we are able to not only change people’s negative opinions of these species but also educate them on how to live alongside wildlife by understanding how animals and plants live, how to ID them, and why they are important. At GBBR, we are slowly but surely seeing a change in public perception, a shift in behaviour, and increasing respect for the natural world…I love it!

Tianna is a conservation biologist currently working for the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve. She obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo in environmental studies and completed her M.Sc. at Trent University studying Bank Swallow habitat. Working with so many passionate people is what fueled her love for the environmental field, especially her love of birds. She can be found on twitter @Tingo_89, where she co-manages the #BioLitClub and shares her passion for birds, cats, and her strange hobby of taxidermy.

Looking for cryptic animals…without location information

This week, Dispatches from the Field is excited to welcome our first guest poster of 2017.  Megan Snetsinger shares some stories from her often frustrating hunt for Butler’s Gartersnakes in the wilds and not-so-wilds of Michigan.  For more about Megan, check out her bio at the end of the post.

A snake in the hand is worth two in the bush…

I’m working on a research project about the Butler’s Gartersnake. As I’m currently in the writing process, it’s easiest to write ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING ELSE. So let me tell you about planning my last field season.

Studying an at-risk snake in Ontario can be challenging, due to the restrictions placed on even considering touching one. But in some ways, it’s also fairly convenient, because the province has a strong philosophy on maintaining a record of species presence. As my project mainly covers Ontario snakes, most of my field season prep consisted of drowning myself in permit applications. But we (i.e. my supervising committee) decided that it would be useful to include some American snakes from locations adjacent to the Canadian range. And thus began my quest to find Butler’s Gartersnakes in Michigan.

This quest almost immediately hit a roadblock – because there’s no database recording location information for reptiles in Michigan. And the Butler’s Gartersnake isn’t endangered there. It’s considered as much of a ‘throwaway’ species as the much more widespread Eastern Gartersnake, so even the herpetologists don’t put too much effort in recording where they’re found. I was on my own.

The not-so-wilds of Michigan

My first step was to check maps for potential habitat. Not a good beginning. Check out the stretch of Michigan across from Southwestern Ontario on Google Earth. Half of it is taken up by the sprawl of Detroit and the rest is a patchwork of municipalities and farm fields. Not that I’m unaccustomed to that kind of layout – take away the giant urban centre, and that’s what the Ontario side of the border looks like. As much as I wish this weren’t the case, the Butler’s Gartersnake populations don’t have access to huge swaths of habitat; they eke out their existence in whatever pockets are available to them. I had to go smaller scale.

Zooming in on land features, I tried to pick out any locations that might have potential. While prairie-type habitat adjacent to water is the best, I settled for anything that might have long grass. This had no guarantee of working. It’s tricky to identify long grass. And even when satellite imagery is up to date, mowing can happen at any time. And there was another problem. Many of the most promising sites were on private land, owned by … somebody. Usually a corporation of some sort, which isn’t identified on Google and isn’t apparent in the street view. Trespassing on these sites seemed unwise. I needed to limit my search to locations that had public access, or at the very least had a name and face attached so I could request access.

Using these criteria, I had a working list of definite and possible places to check out. And this is where I learned that you never ever ever escape permits in fieldwork. The sampling permit was a gimme, again because no one there seems to care overly much about the snakes, but everyone I asked required intensive access permits. But I am nothing if not tenacious, and by the time I set out for the field I was wielding a binder full of printouts.

Once in the field, it was Google Earth all over again, with the added joy of trying to look for animals that are evolved to blend into and move quickly in grass, and have a habit of diving under said grass whenever someone walks nearby. We usually get only moments to react to their movement before they’ve vanished. And if they do get under the grass, that’s game over. A lot of grass-stained knees were acquired from diving to catch snakes.

Spot the snake: Butler’s Gartersnakes are quite good at hiding in grass!

With less than 2 weeks to work with, we started in St. Clair, Michigan and worked our way south, checking off stops on my (increasingly dubious) list. Some places that seemed like sure bets (e.g. state parks with a lot of open, grassy areas) turned up few to no Butler’s, and some “mayyyyyybes” (e.g. a mostly-mowed municipal park with a little patch of longer grass) were my only successful locations in a given region. That’s not to say that all my questionable locations were winners. We went though a lot of ‘drive in, look around, drive out.’

Some of the larger locations, particularly the Huron-Clinton Metroparks, even had site ecologists who were helped by telling us what they knew about sightings on-site. One of the best location resources was the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. They were happy to help conservation research, and gave us access to many of their locations, also suggesting which of their sites would prove most fruitful to search. Really, everyone was very nice. While checking out one of the Refuge sites, we met a farmer who was interested in what we were doing and offered us access to survey his land if we wanted. It turns out that even though Michigan lacks the ecological infrastructure that Ontario has, cooperation is always what drives successful fieldwork.

And it all worked out. I would have liked to have found more snakes (more data is never a bad thing, and what I got was not enough to study Michigan snakes as a focal population in my thesis), but I got a smattering of samples covering the stretch of land I wanted to cover. So all you really need for successful field work is months of prep, great collaborators, and a fantastic field assisstant (thanks Tori!). It’s simple really…

Megan Snetsinger is a Master’s student at Queen’s University working in Dr. Stephen Lougheed’s lab. Her research is a population ecology study, using genetic methods to determine how and why Butler’s Gartersnakes are distributed across their range. Like any geneticist, she spends a lot of time in the lab, but the real joy of the process is letting out her inner 8-year-old when running around catching snakes.

Did you say you work with rattlesnakes… In Ontario?

We are pleased to welcome Rachael Hornsby to the blog this week. Rachael is an MSc student at Queen’s University working in a freshwater fisheries conservation lab. For our avid readers, Rachael is the Rachael featured in the previous post Julia and Rachael’s excellent Muskoka adventure. For more about Rachael, see the end of her post.

It was the hottest day yet of the summer. No clouds, no wind, just 35°C plus 80% humidity and 100% bugs. ALL OF THE BUGS. It was my first time truly out in the field during my undergrad and we were looking for seven species of snakes found near Parry Sound, Ontario. I had neglected to tell the Master’s students I was volunteering with that I was afraid of snakes… you know, I figured if I didn’t tell anyone then I couldn’t be afraid and I would get over it. Much to my surprise, it worked! I held my very first snake that day, a cute (yes, snakes are cute) little Northern Ring-necked snake. Even though I woke up the next day with my face so covered in bug bites my mom thought I had the mumps, it was the start of a new beginning.

After my volunteering experience, I landed a job with Ontario Parks as a snake species at risk student researcher, specifically working with the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. I helped build snake fencing along park roads and hooked the fencing up to eco passages, responded to radio calls about the rattlesnakes that found their way onto campsites, conducted emergence and gestation surveys, and even pit tagged the rattlesnakes to keep track of the park population. I can tell you that there’s nothing like arriving to a campsite with a 40 year old man dancing on top of a picnic table, yelling “It’s under the Rubbermaid bin! It’s under the Rubbermaid bin!” while his wife laughs and comments that a 20-year-old girl is here to rescue him.

The park has a great set up, over 7 km of fencing lining roads and 4 eco passages equipped with pit tag readers and trail cams to see which snakes cross the road and when. One of my daily tasks was to walk the fences looking for damage and any rattlesnakes that found their way there. In a place where almost 6000 campers are camping at any given time, a girl walking with a hook and a pillowcase just inside the woods tends to attract quite a bit of attention. I met a lot of really interesting people, who had A LOT of questions, so I compiled some cool facts about the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake.

A female Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake displaying unique back patterns

Did you know?

• They are Ontario’s only venomous species of snake (the Timber Rattlesnake is extirpated) and currently listed as ‘Threatened’ under the Ontario ESA and SARA
• They give live birth to 11-15 young
• 25% of the time an adult will give a ‘dry bite’ – a bite with no venom
• Although venomous, only 2 people in Ontario’s recorded history have ever died from a bite and they never sought medical treatment (you should always go to the hospital if bitten!)
• Like a fingerprint, each snake has a unique back pattern that can be used to identify it
• They have limited ranges. Moving one further than 1 km from its capture site might kill it because they use the same general hibernation sites year after year. If they can’t find this hibernation site they might not survive the winter.

I also had the opportunity to work on a project looking at whether Massasaugas can be relocated to new hibernation sites, in order to reduce the impact of a 4 lane highway expansion. This was one of my favourite field jobs;10+ hour days hiking through the woods tracking adult rattlesnakes equipped with radio transmitters. Several times I had to enter a graminoid marsh, vegetation up to my hips, with dead veg underneath, just strong enough to support a rattlesnake at knee level instead of ankle level. Your mind starts to wonder: I’m tracking 3 snakes in here… so how many untagged ones are nearby?

My Dad helping to coax a young Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake into the tube before processing

Jen Mills holding the rattlesnake in the tube while I measure its tail to determine sex

 

Pit tagging the rattlesnake for future ID and detection through eco passages

The most surreal experience happened one day while I was sitting eating lunch on a rock outcrop. I noticed some flagging tape running north through the adjacent trees. It turns out that where I was sitting was the future home of the two northbound highway lanes. To this day nothing compares to the feeling of sitting quiet in an undisturbed forest, knowing in a couple years it will be forever altered but that I had a hand in making a difference to the snakes that call it home.

It’s funny how things change. I started out being afraid but now after completing several years of fieldwork with the Eastern Massasauga, I long for the days that I watched my step and listened intently for the rattling sound of my legless friends in the woods.

Rachael holding a Gray Ratsnake

Rachael completed her Bachelor of Science at Queen’s University during which she spent her summers working with rattlesnakes in the Georgian Bay area. After graduating she spent a year working with snakes and honing her radio telemetry skills before returning to school. She is currently a masters student in the Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab at Queen’s University, using acoustic telemetry to study how competitive fishing tournaments affect black bass movements in Eastern Lake Ontario.

 

 

 

A Canuck in the Outback – Cane toad research in north tropical Australia

This week on Dispatches from the Field, we welcome Cameron Hudson, a PhD candidate in Western Australia, to fill us in on what it is like to work at a remote field station. Check out his bio and a link to his own entertaining blog at the the end of the post!

The sun sets over Fogg Dam.

The sun sets over Fogg Dam conservation area. Despite the stillness in the photo, we’re minutes away from a frenzy of activity. Snakes, insects, crocodiles and cane toads (my study species) all spring into action, going about their nightly activities. I spend many of my evenings here, chasing toads around and swatting at mosquitoes. Located in the wetlands region of the Northern Territory, roughly a 45 minute drive south-east of Darwin, sits the research station that we lovingly call Middle Point. It has been a long standing study site for researchers from the University of Sydney, where I moved roughly a year and a half ago to start my PhD research on the cane toad (Rhinella marina) invasion of Australia.

A bright yellow male cane toad (Rhinella marina)

I first learned about the cane toad introduction when I was in high school – my grade 10 science teacher Ms. Holterman showed us a documentary from the ‘80s titled: “Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.” It’s worth a watch as they outline the history and spread of a devastating invasive species while managing to interview some quirky individuals. Little did I know that ten years later I would become one of those quirky individuals, moving across the world to study the evolution of the world’s most successful amphibian invasive species. A quick summary – cane toads were introduced to many countries around the globe in order to control sugarcane pests. They arrived in Australia back in 1935, and in the eighty years following, have spread over millions of square kilometers of the Australian landscape. Since they are highly toxic, and Australia has no native toads, many of the native predators have been devastated as the toads move through new areas. Animals that try to eat the toads don’t realize that they are toxic until it is too late (particularly a problem for snakes since they swallow their prey whole). This biodiversity crisis has fostered a lot of hatred towards the toads, and produced a good deal of research funding for studying their impact, and developing control methods. It has also given us a unique opportunity to study the evolution of an invasive species as it invades an entire continent.

Obligatory kangaroo photos.

That’s where I come in! I met Professor Rick Shine, my PhD supervisor, when he was visiting QUBS after I had just completed my MSc. We discussed his extensive research program, dedicated to various areas of the toad invasion, and I was hooked. The project we decided on would examine phenotypic changes in cane toads across Australian populations, focusing on adaptations that promote dispersal. As the toads move across the landscape, they are doing so at a rapidly accelerating pace. Previous work on the toads had already shown differences in morphology, behaviour and physiology between toads at the invasion front and toads at the range core, so I was excited to examine these findings further. It also meant that I would get to go wherever the cane toads are, and for a Canadian who had always wanted to travel around Australia I felt pretty lucky.

The real outback – Purnululu National Park, Western Australia

As much as I love the field, life is not always easy in the top end. The field station is pretty remote, the weather is intense and the health hazards are real. From a lifestyle perspective, cell phone coverage is spotty, internet connectivity is low, and we’re surrounded by buffalo farms. Having a social life can be difficult; it’s easy to get wrapped up in my research, and it means that my relationships with friends, family, and my partner require a lot of work (and patience, from people having to put up with my dropped calls). I suppose being a Canadian in Australia means you’re in a long distance relationship with most of the people you know, so it can get a bit lonely.

Luckily we have buffalo friends out here!

From the safety side of things, my work involves a lot of long hours driving (often at night), there are venomous snakes, crocodiles, and mosquito borne diseases to watch out for. In the wet season we’re met with cyclones and flooding, in the dry season it’s droughts and wildfires. Needless to say, you have to be careful.

A northern death adder (Acanthopis praelongus) about 2 minutes away from my front door

With all of these factors considered, I still love my job. Living in the field means I’m surrounded by wildlife, free from the clamour and noise of the city. You never know what you’ll run into. Long road trips alone, or with good friends, have given me such an appreciation for the geography and biodiversity of this country. In the short time that I’ve been here, I feel that I’ve seen so much, and yet there is still an endless number of places to explore. As damaging as the toads are, I guess I have them to thank for this experience. Not to mention helping me on my way to getting a PhD, and becoming one of those quirky individuals that I learned about in school.

Measuring toads – Cam’s favourite activity.

Cam Hudson is a PhD student at the University of Sydney, studying evolutionary biology under Prof. Rick Shine and Dr. Greg Brown. He is a Queen’s University (BScH) and University of Gulelph (MSc) alumnus. His previous research has examined male mating strategies and hybridization in spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) with Prof. Stephen Lougheed, and sexual size dimorphism, multiple paternity and combat in the Emei moustache toad (Leptobrachium boringii) with Prof. Jinzhong Fu. He spent his childhood catching frogs and salamanders in Ontario, and hopes to continue chasing amphibians into adulthood as an evolutionary biologist. If you want to read more about his life and research in the Northern Territory, check out his blog: darwinstoad.tumblr.com

 

Snakes on a [fragmented] plain

Here at Dispatches from the Field we are VERY excited to welcome our first guest blogger, Amanda Xuereb, a PhD student from the University of Toronto. For more about Amanda, check out the end of this post!

Hot mid-afternoon in late June, 2011. Sitting on a large rock overlooking a local community beach north of Parry Sound, Ontario. Taking a lunch break of PB & J with Caroline, my field assistant, after a sweaty morning of flipping rocks and cursing myself for wanting to study such a cryptic animal. Suddenly, shrieks of fear from below – a woman yelling at her kids “GET OUT OF THE WATER RIGHT NOW! HURRY!!” We look down at what looks like a scene from Jaws as all the kids are running and splashing to safety and in the distance, the silhouette of something swimming along the surface of the water – A SNAKE! We haven’t seen one in days! No words were spoken. As quick as a reflex we dropped our sandwiches and ran to the water. No time for bathing suits (our clothes needed a wash anyway). We tread water to slowly approach the beast from either end and Caroline makes the grab – success! It’s a 3.5’ long eastern foxsnake, one of the most beautiful and docile creatures I have had the pleasure of working with.

My first summer of field work was in 2009. I was an undergrad between my third and fourth year and I scored a job as one of two field assistants to a PhD student. Our primary task was to collect blood samples from eastern foxsnakes for a study on genetic population structure in Ontario. The three of us bunked in a shabby 2-bedroom apartment in Kingsville, ON for 4 months that summer, which we furnished with air mattresses, Rubbermaid containers, and a tent so that the person who got to sleep in the “living room” at least had some privacy. I knew I would be in for a summer like I never experienced before, but I didn’t realize just how much I would love it. I loved spending our days wandering around such pristine areas like Point Pelee National Park, Hillman marsh, various sewage lagoons (yep), searching for that distinct gold and brown pattern slithering in the grass or basking on rocks. On a good day, and in the right places, we could find upwards of 10 snakes in one day. That fall, we found a nest in a compost pile in someone’s backyard with nearly 100 eggs (in clutches of about 10) that were hatching right before our eyes! That was cool.

Five star accommodation

Adorable baby eastern foxsnakes emerge from their eggs only to be fondled by eager researchers

After finishing undergrad, I started a master’s degree in the same lab. I was interested in understanding the effects of the landscape (namely anthropogenic features like roads) on shaping the genetic structure of species at risk. I chose a species about which very little was known – the eastern hog-nosed snake – and I quickly understood why this was the case. Although they are extremely charismatic (with a unique way of defending themselves against predators, see pictures below and YouTube), they are pretty elusive. As their name suggests, hog-nosed snakes have an upturned snout, which they will use to burrow themselves in sandy soils (females also use their snouts to dig themselves a nest to lay their eggs in). In one 3-month stint in the field, I personally found and collected a blood sample from five individuals – hardly enough of a sample. My field assistants and I literally spent weeks walking up and down and up down the shores of beaches only to come back empty handed (I know, it doesn’t sound so bad saying it now but the beach thing got old pretty fast). For most of that summer I felt frustrated and discouraged and scared that my project was going to flop, but I was saved by some incredible people all over the province who stayed on the lookout and called me if they came across the coveted hoggy. The acknowledgements section made up a good chunk of my thesis.

Hog-nosed snake defense strategy – Step 1: Make like a cobra.

Step 2: Roll over, play dead.

The eastern hog-nosed snake does turn its nose up at everything, but it is not condescending…or so we think.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my field work was the opportunity to meet and talk to so many people. I spent a lot of time searching in provincial and national parks, cottage areas, and backyards, sometimes even pulling over to sample a snake on the side of a road, which always begged the question “what are you doing?” by passersby. Of course, interacting with people who lived in the communities in which I was working often benefitted me when they agreed to be my eyes when I couldn’t be in 20 places at once. But some of the most fulfilling interactions were with those for whom idea of chasing after snakes was totally bonkers. I’ll return to the shrieking woman from above: When we reached shore with the snake in hand, the kids were naturally stoked and ran over to us to get a good look, while the nervous woman pleaded for them to stay back. When we approached her, she confessed that she thought all snakes in Ontario were rattlesnakes, and thus all snakes were venomous and must be feared. After explaining that most of the snakes you would find anywhere near here are harmless, and even the Massasauga rattlesnake (our only venomous species) isn’t as scary as it’s made out to be, she became very interested in understanding what species occurred where she lived and how to tell them apart. I was thrilled to (seemingly) change someone’s view of a creature so misunderstood from downright terror to “Hmm, I guess they’re not so bad”.

 

Disclaimer: I do not advocate picking up any snake that you come across in the wild; you probably wouldn’t like that very much, would you? Admire it, but let it be.

 

Amanda in action

Amanda  completed her master’s degree in the department of biology at Queen’s University in 2012. her thesis focused on the impacts of land cover and habitat fragmentation on the spatial structure of eastern hog-nosed snake populations. She is interested in understanding how environmental or landscape features influence an organism’s ability to disperse and ultimately shape patterns of genetic structure at a broad scale, especially in a conservation context. She is currently a PhD student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at the University of Toronto.