From tiny, burrowing lizards to rainforest canopy-dwellers and giant crocodiles, reptile populations everywhere are changing. Yet governments and conservation groups are often forced to make important decisions about reptile conservation and management based on inadequate or incomplete data. With contributions from nearly seventy specialists, Reptile Biodiversity: Standard Methods for Inventory and Monitoring offers a comprehensive guide to the best methods for carrying out standardized quantitative and qualitative surveys of reptiles, while maximizing comparability of data between sites, across habitats and taxa, and over time. The contributors discuss each method, provide detailed protocols for its implementation, and suggest ways to analyze the data, making Reptile Biodiversity: Standard Methods for Inventory and Monitoring an essential resource for monitoring and inventorying reptile abundance, population status, and biodiversity. "Reptile Biodiversity" covers topics including: terrestrial, marine, and aquatic reptiles; equipment recommendations and limitations; ethics of monitoring and inventory activities; statistical procedures; designing sampling programs; and using PDAs in the field.
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Tables
Authors And Contributor
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Reptile Diversity And Natural History: An Overview
Chapter 3. Study Design And Sampling
Chapter 4. Planning And Associated Data
Chapter 5. Finding And Capturing Reptiles
Chapter 6. Voucher Specimens
Chapter 7. Techniques For Difficult-to-sample Habitats
Chapter 8. Statistical Properties Of Techniques And Validation
Chapter 9. Standard Techniques For Inventory And Monitoring
Chapter 10. Parametric Analysis Of Reptilian Biodiversity Data
Chapter 11. Population Size And Demographics
Chapter 12. Monitoring Exploited Species
Chapter 13. Where Do We Go From Here?
Standard Procedures
I. Dealing With Live Reptiles
II. Techniques For Marking Reptiles
III. Determining Age, Sex, And Reproductive Condition
Appendices
I. Selected Institutions With Significant Collections Of Reptiles
II. Relevant Websites
Literature Cited
Index
Addresses Of Authors And Contributors
Roy W. McDiarmid is a Research Zoologist and Curator of Reptiles for the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center at the National Museum of Natural History.
Mercedes S. Foster is a Research Zoologist and Curator of Birds for the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center at the National Museum of Natural History.
Craig Guyer is Professor of Biological Sciences at Auburn University.
J. Whitfield Gibbons is Professor of Ecology at the University of Georgia and former head of the Environmental Outreach and Education program at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory.
Neil Chernoff is a scientist at the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.