Members of the Davis Herpetology Lab attended a release event for head-started Rio Grande Cooters (Pseudemys gorzugi). Three juvenile individuals, hatched and raised at the ABQ BioPark were released back into the Black River. I was able to attend the event alongside current M.S. student, Spencer Duffendack, and a past DHL undergraduate student, Joshua Gonzalez, who is currently the Director of Development/Promotion at KENW. Following the release, we held a networking lunch, where partner agencies from across the region were able to get together to discuss the species, shared interests, and conservation priorities. Further, Spencer was able to present some of his preliminary research on the effects of salinity on the blood chemistry of the Rio Grande Cooter.
It’s was a fun event and nice to see so many interested individuals and agencies supporting the conservation and recovery of this imperiled species!
The DHL recently returned from another sampling trip out to C. E. Miller Ranch, which marked the 20th year of my visiting this site located near Valentine in west Texas. Though the efforts began as herpetological surveys, our time has shifted to sampling a large population of Yellow Mud Turtles (Kinosternon flavescens) that occupy both ephemeral- and permanent- water sites on the ranch. I were joined (as usual) by long-time collaborator Travis LaDuc (who first began these surveys in 2006), Braden DeWeerd (M.S. student), and Madden Haag (post-bac summer technician). T
Members of the Davis Herpetology Lab recently attending the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Summer technicians Caden Myers and Madden Haag presented posters and undergraduate Ben Genter presented an oral presentation. 
I will be moving my lab and joining the School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley as an Assistant Professor of Wildlife Biology starting 
Recent funding from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (soon to be Department of Wildlife) included engagement with community scientists to increase observations of frogs across eastern New Mexico. Though primarily aimed to target observations of American Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) along the Pecos River, we are interested in all observations of anurans across the region. American Bullfrogs are considered a non-native, invasive species across most of New Mexico, including along the Pecos River watershed. The only region in the state where American Bullfrogs are native is believed to be in the Canadian River watershed in northeastern New Mexico. Early detection of American Bullfrogs is key to prevent their spread and establishment into new areas and control efforts can help to protect native species from these voracious predators.
DHL graduate student Braden DeWeerd was just awarded funding through the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Award, through the American Museum of Natural History! These funds will allow Braden to screen his anuran samples from his summer fieldwork for the presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a fungal pathogen that has received little attention across the region. Not only is there a pathogen surveillance component of his research, but he will also use these results to examine how land use and habitat characteristics influence infection and pathogen load. 
DHL graduate student Braden DeWeerd was recently awarded funding through the Howard McCarley Student Research Award through the Southwestern Association of Naturalists! 
A new student-led note was recently published in Herpetological Review 56(3). MS student Kevin Green published a series of distributional records of the non-native Hemidactylus aff. malcolmsmithi from Mississippi and Louisiana, including the furthest north documented population in the USA, in northern Louisiana. This species is rapidly expanding its range across the southern USA, and will likely become the dominant Hemidactylus species at introduced localities. Congrats to Kevin on another publication!
DHL graduate students Sebastian Summo Elias, Braden DeWeerd, and Spencer Duffendack presented research posters at ENMU’s Student Research and Creativity Conference. Spencer (top) presented his thesis research on Western Ribbonsnakes (Thamnophis proximus), Braden (middle) presented on his proposed thesis research on SGCN Pecos River frogs, and Spencer (bottom) presented on his proposed thesis research on Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) physiology. Additionally, Spencer (pictured here) took home the 1st place prize for the graduate student poster proposal category! Sebastian will soon defend his thesis and both Braden and Spencer will start their first summer field season of data collection.
