20 de abril de 2023

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission Seeking Chicken Turtle Observations

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is again asking for help from hikers, hunters, anglers and herpetology enthusiasts to be on the lookout for a rare species found in The Natural State. Kelly Irwin, the AGFC’s herpetologist, says sightings of the species anywhere in the state will help biologists conduct population surveys to determine the status of this species in Arkansas.

Chicken turtles are found in marshes, swamps and beaver ponds, primarily central, eastern and southern Arkansas. They are roughly the same size and color as red-eared sliders and river cooters, two other semi-aquatic turtles which are more common. Mature chicken turtles will have oval shells from 4 to 6 inches long with brown-olive plates featuring a faint yellow netlike pattern.

“To the untrained eye, they’re easily confused for sliders,” Irwin said. “But it’s pretty easy to determine if you have a chicken turtle. Look at the hind quarters. If the yellow stripes are straight up and down, it’s a chicken turtle.”

Irwin says the AGFC has been involved in a multi-year survey process to find and record as many locations and populations of this species as possible. Chicken turtles are listed in the Arkansas Wildlife Action Plan as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need, a status indicating downward population trends or too little data to make determinations on the overall health of the species. Successful surveys of the species can help researchers with not only information on this species, but also help focus conservation efforts in the future.

Text or email any images and location details of turtles with the vertical yellow stripes (AKA: “striped pants”) to Irwin at: 501.539.0431 or kelly.irwin@agfc.ar.gov.

https://www.agfc.com/en/news/2023/04/12/agfc-calling-on-citizen-scientists-to-help-with-turtle-search/

Publicado el abril 20, 2023 02:14 MAÑANA por kaptainkory kaptainkory | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

11 de agosto de 2020

Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019

The Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019 is now available for download.

🐸 🐊 🐢 🦎 🐍

This public release represents the greatest undertaking in cataloging and mapping the herpetofauna of Arkansas since The Amphibians and Reptiles of Arkansas (Trauth et al. 2004).

Almost 8,000 records contributed to this project by the end of 2019 have been installed in the Arkansas Herpetological Atlas. Thank you!!!

Publicado el agosto 11, 2020 09:19 MAÑANA por kaptainkory kaptainkory | 2 comentarios | Deja un comentario

08 de junio de 2020

10,000 Records and Counting!!!

Another day, another milestone. The records just keep pouring in at an accelerated pace!

The 10,000th record added to the project was a North American Toad (Genus Anaxyrus; likely Dwarf American Toad Anaxyrus americanus ssp. charlesmithi) from Crawford County on June 7th, 2020, added by Elizabeth Rowland.

Thank you for the continued contributions!!! Keep 'em coming!!!

Publicado el junio 8, 2020 02:00 MAÑANA por kaptainkory kaptainkory | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

19 de abril de 2020

Starting Guide for New Members

Welcome to the Herps of Arkansas project on iNaturalist!

The purpose of this project is to facilitate a better understanding the distribution of reptiles and amphibians in Arkansas. Our goals are to 1) promote citizen science and a better understanding of an often misunderstood group of animals within our state and 2) curate and provide data for conservation and research purposes.


The following is a short tutorial on how to add observations to the project using the iNaturalist website interface.

*** COMPLETE ALL FOUR STEPS ***

STEP 1:

Sign up for an iNaturalist account. It is free and can be linked to an existing Facebook or Google account.

Tutorial GIF 1


STEP 2:

Start adding observations, such as amphibians and reptiles seen in Arkansas, to your account. There are several ways to do this, but most will find it easiest to simply upload photos, since most modern devices automatically embed key information, such as date and location, already. The iNaturalist system is very good at suggesting initial identifications of organisms, which are then followed up by human curation.

Tutorial GIF 2


STEP 3:

After one or several observations are added, join the Herps of Arkansas project.

(You can alternatively search for the project by name as one of the community projects.)

Upon joining, for "Do you want to make your private/obscured observation coordinates visible to the project curators?" select one of the "yes" choices.

Tutorial GIF 3


STEP 4:

From the Herps of Arkansas project homepage, find "Add from Your Observations" (one of the menu choices, NOT the orange "Add Observations" flag). Click "Batch Edit", "Select - All", "Add to Project - Herps of Arkansas".

Any records that don't go through may be due to easily correctable errors, such as an identification that is not narrow enough to match the project list.

Tutorial GIF 4


Tips & Tricks

  • iNaturalist is also available as an app for Apple and Android systems. These are somewhat limited in functionality and it is strongly recommended to use the website interface to at least get started.
  • The project homepage has a tempting large orange "Add Observations" flag on the top banner. This takes you to a somewhat legacy interface and we recommend not submitting records this way, although it is still functional.
  • There are now a couple of different fundamental types of projects on iNaturalist. Due to our project rules (for curation of the data), observations must be added intentionally/manually; they are not added automatically. As new records are added to your iNaturalist account, repeating step 4 from the tutorial should catch anything suitable that hasn't yet been added to the project.
  • While most modern devices do embed location information with photos, these should be double-checked for accuracy when added to iNaturalist. It is recommended localities of a sensitive nature (ex: at your house, rare herps, etc.) be set to obscured or private. As a future tip, allow your device interface to be active for a couple of minutes (ex: open the map app and see where it plots) BEFORE taking nature photos to allow for accurate location triangulation.
  • Yes, please add whatever other nature observations you wish to iNaturalist! It is really a terrific system for naturalists, and only getting better!
Publicado el abril 19, 2020 10:42 TARDE por kaptainkory kaptainkory | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

06 de octubre de 2019

6000+ Records!!! Thank you!!!

This summer, the 5,000th record was added to the project: a Plain-bellied Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster) from Benton County, May 2015. We have now already exceeded 6,000!!! Thank you all so much!!!

We are continuing to ID records and requesting additional submissions. There are still over 3,000 Arkansas herp records on iNaturalist that could be suitable for addition to the project, but have not yet been added. On the project homepage, click "Add from Your Observations" to identify suitable observations which you may have personally overlooked adding. In order to properly voucher records and leverage the data for conservation efforts and scientific research, we require IDs match the project list (even to subspecies level in some cases) and to allow project curators to view coordinates. We encourage observations of rare herps have localities set to obscure or private, and we respect and intend to safeguard the sensitivity of such information. You might like to review your personal settings for the project by clicking "Your Membership".

Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Publicado el octubre 6, 2019 02:22 MAÑANA por kaptainkory kaptainkory | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

23 de noviembre de 2016

2017 Big Year Announcement.

As 2016 comes to a close I would like to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Herps of Arkansas Project. Thanks to your participation the project as of 11/22/16 has 1,172 observations recorded. There are currently 105 of the 121 species recognized as occurring in the state of Arkansas represented in the project as well as 26 species currently tracked by the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. For 2017 I would like to invite everyone to participate in our first Herps of Arkansas Project Big Year contest. The contest will begin at 00:01 on January 1st 2017 and will run until 00:01 on January 1st 2018. There will be some great prizes for the winners. Rules are simple, you must be a member of the Herps of Arkansas Project on Inaturalist, your observation must meet all requirements already in place to be added to the project, specimens must be observed in 2017, and your observation must be verified as research grade to be counted. I look forward to seeing what everyone finds in 2017 and good luck to those who decide to compete. -Thomas

First Prize (Most Species): “The Amphibians and Reptiles of Arkansas” Signed copy by Stanley E. Trauth, Henry W. Robison, Michael V. Plummer, and Renn Tumlison.

Second Place: “Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition” Signed copy.

Third Place: Herps of Arkansas Project “Big Year” tumbler cup.

Publicado el noviembre 23, 2016 02:19 MAÑANA por thomas_belford thomas_belford | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario

16 de agosto de 2015

Initial post.

The Herps Of Arkansas Project is currently Live. Please feel free to join, share, and ad your observations. If you are unsure on an identification just get it as close as you can and a curator will properly Identify it.

Publicado el agosto 16, 2015 03:37 MAÑANA por thomas_belford thomas_belford | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario