WCS 3-Sentence Science

Using Journal Records to Track Invasive Amphibians and Reptiles

October 21, 2019

CREDIT: GARY NAFIS

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS herpetologist Michael Lieto on documentation of six invasive reptiles in the United States.

1. Researchers looked at previously published records in the journal Herpetological Review (HR) — published by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) since 1967 — to see how it chronicled the spread of six invasive reptiles and amphibians in the U.S.
2. The authors found that HR’s Geographic Distribution records, though highly informative, cannot represent a complete picture of the U.S. introduction and spread of invasive amphibian or reptile species by themselves.
3. Authors recommend that the entire Herpetological Review dataset should be made accessible online to increase standardization and accessibility, and should also be expanded to include all known invasions prior to its publication, as well as the range expansions published elsewhere in Herpetological Review.

Study and Journal: “Tracking the spread of six invasive amphibians and reptiles using the geographic distribution records” from Herpetological Review
WCS Co-Author(s): Michael Lieto, WCS Herpetology Department

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.