Volunteer!
Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs)
1) Why am I not allowed to capture reptiles I see during surveys, even if it is legal to do so (e.g., I have my own Scientific Collection permit or I don't need a permit to capture certain species)?
2) What if I don't see any reptiles during a survey? Should I still report it?
3) Can I conduct surveys with another person?
4) I'm really interested in seeing a particular species. Can you assign me a site where you know that species occurs?
5) I have my own account with another database project (e.g., NAFHA HERP). Can I report observations made for this project under another project?
6) Does the project share data I collect?
7) How are survey sites selected? I.E., Why can't I just survey places I know I'll find species I'm interested in?
8) I would like to provide access to my property, or I know someone who owns property that would like to give the project access. What do I do?
- The overarching goal of this project is to evaluate the current natural status of reptile populations. A critical and necessary assumption is that our survey efforts do not alter populations at our survey sites! There are too many unknowns and potentially detrimental impacts from handling wild animals when there isn't a good reason to do so - unintentional spread of disease is a potential concern. There are likely many diseases in reptiles that we don't know about, and we should learn from previous cases such as Chytrid fungus, which is implicated in declines of many frog and toad species. There is also increasing awareness of an apparent fungal infection in snakes - little is currently known about potential impacts of the infection on morbidity/mortality in snakes. If you notice this or other unusual things (e.g., you see a lot of dead reptiles on a site), please report them immediately! Photographs and the rest of the requested data for observations should be provided with any special reports.
- There is some evidence that individuals of some reptile species have greater mortality after being handled briefly. This may be due to adverse effects of the stress caused by capture/handling, although more research in this area is needed. While we understand the educational benefits to humans allowed to handle and observe reptiles in-hand, we strive to maintain natural systems at our survey sites in the sense that sampling from this project is designed to minimize impacts on both habitat and reptiles.
2) What if I don't see any reptiles during a survey? Should I still report it?
- Absolutely! Please do report surveys you conduct that in which you don't observe reptiles. Because this project uses an occupancy approach, knowing what surveys resulted in 0 (zero) observed reptiles is JUST AS IMPORTANT as those surveys that report observations. There are a variety of factors that could influence whether or not you see reptiles, including weather influencing activity of reptiles, habitat characteristics/quality, and the time of year. Following protocols, getting out regularly throughout the season, and volunteering to survey several sites will all improve your chances of seeing reptiles during your surveys!
3) Can I conduct surveys with another person?
- Yes, with the following condition: You must either have separate equipment and survey each site independently (i.e., you can't walk together, or talk about what you observe during the survey) or you must remain together (within ~20 feet of one another) the for that entire survey. This can vary between sites or site visits - you only have to be consistent within a given site on a given visit. If surveying independently, each of the observers needs to complete their own datasheet and submit it; if you are surveying dependently, you only need to complete a single datasheet with all observers listed at the top.
4) I'm really interested in seeing a particular species. Can you assign me a site where you know that species occurs?
- Not at this time. We can only assign you to survey sites based on the County/Counties you requested and your ability to get there (e.g., if you have a low-clearance vehicle we can't assign you a site that requires high-clearance to access it!). If you know what the distribution of the species is, you can improve your chances of observing it by requesting survey sites for counties where it occurs - that is perfectly acceptable!
5) I have my own account with another database project (e.g., NAFHA HERP). Can I report observations made for this project under another project?
- It depends. If you wish to enter survey data into a personal database for another project, we request that those data not be made available to anyone else until 2017. Data collected while volunteering for this project 'belong' to Colorado State University, although you are welcome to submit opportunistic observation data you collect into personal accounts if they are protected from download/use until at least 2017. If you want to submit opportunistic observations through another observation database, please contact us to confirm terms of use; in many cases we can gain access to opportunistic observations made to other databases, but you must submit data collected on our standardized survey sites only to the Great Plains Reptile Monitoring Project. We have specific information we're collecting, however, so to improve our ability to use your data it is always best to submit data here. Also see #6 below!
6) Does the project share data I collect?
- Yes. We share relevant data with formal project Cooperators (e.g., Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Texas Parks & Wildlife, BLM, U.S. Forest Service, etc...) in order to better inform land management decisions and improve reptile conservation efforts. Without sharing the information you collect it would not likely be as effective at improving what we know about reptiles and how land and wildlife managers can better conserve their populations.
7) How are survey sites selected? I.E., Why can't I just survey places I know I'll find species I'm interested in?
- To improve the inference of the project results, we randomly-select survey sites based on the land ownership (public & private); to estimate persistence of select species, we also survey sites of known historic occurrence for those species. Except in rare circumstances, volunteers only survey sites on public lands. Projects that collect only haphazard, opportunistically-collected observations that don't follow at least a basic standardized survey protocol have extremely limited inference. With a probability-based sampling frame and (simple) standardized survey protocol, the Great Plains Reptile Monitoring Project is able to estimate reptile species occurrence -- and more importantly -- estimate changes in occurrence over time and space. Without this simple sampling scheme, observations are just that: single observations with extremely limited inference. If we want to better understand changes in reptile populations over time and space, it is necessary to follow standardized survey protocols. Similarly, if we want to extrapolate results of those surveys beyond the sites we survey, it is necessary to randomly-select at least a portion of survey sites from the area of interest.
8) I would like to provide access to my property, or I know someone who owns property that would like to give the project access. What do I do?
- We are surveying sites that have native habitat (e.g., 'rangeland', shortgrass prairie, mixed-grass prairie, canyons, pinyon-juniper, etc...). If your property has native habitat and is larger than a quarter-section, please have the landowner contact Danny Martin or fill out the form here. We request access between 2 to 5 times each year, between April and October, and also request access through at least 2016. Unless volunteer observers are the landowners or know landowners already, we generally only request that CSU survey crews have access to private properties.
9) I don't have time right now to conduct standardized surveys, but would still like to contribute - how can I still help out?
- We are still happy to accept any opportunistic observations of reptiles that you make! Please consider downloading the smartphone app and submitting opportunistic data that way. We are accepting observations from our study area (Great Plains LCC boundary) or for horned lizards or box turtles from anywhere in North America (see the Photo ID Project for more information).