2004 USGS ARMI National Meeting
December 6-10, 2004
Hosted by Wekiwa Springs State Park
1800 Wekiwa Circle, Apopka, Florida

Mon. Dec. 6 and Tues. Dec. 7:  PAO Workshop, Altamonte Springs USGS Office

       Over 30 participants from all ARMI regions participated in this very educational workshop presented by Darryl MacKenzie, Jim Nichols,and Jim Hines. We were hosted by the Altamonte Springs USGS office, and special thanks go to Nicole Bogeajis for her help setting up the workshop. Because ARMI is focusing on estimating proportion area occupied (PAO) as part of our sampling protocols, this workshop helped us all learn about how to use Program PRESENCE. Through lectures by Darryl and hands-on computer experience using the program to analyze sample data sets, everyone gained additional familiarity with the program (see agenda).
 

Wed. Dec. 8 and Thurs. Dec. 9: National ARMI Meeting, Wekiwa Springs

       The theme of this year's annual ARMI meeting was "Developing a National Perspective", which was accomplished through presentations from collaborators and discussion sessions.  Over 50 participants attended the meeting which was held at the Group Camp facility of Wekiwa Springs State Park. On Wednesday, we heard updates from Bill Battaglin on water Resources research, Alisa Gallant on mapping, Chris Brown on the database, and Roxanna Hinzman, Kim Trust and Mari Reeves (USFWS) on amphibian malformation research. Throughout the day we participated in discussion sessions which attempted to address the issue of synthesizing our regional research and scaling up to the national level.  On Thursday, we heard updates from David Green on disease and Carl Korschgen and Kimberly Horton on stressors mapping.  The ARMI Steering Committee met on Thursday morning. Through discussion sessions during the day we decided to prepare two national level reports: one in short, fact sheet format which will summarize and synthesize our regional annual reports, this document will serve to increase awareness and appreciation for the ARMI program. The second report will be a more in-depth analysis of the ARMI program, highlighting our accomplishments and presenting a plan for our future research.  A committee of volunteers was formed to prepare this report which consisted of Erin Muths, Bill Battaglin, Alisa Gallant, Margaret Gunzburger, Rick Kearney, Steve Corn, Susan Walls, and Jennifer Staiger.   Click here for photo gallery.

       We all enjoyed the beautiful weather, it was warm and humid most days, and as is to be expected when this many herpetologists gather together, we spent a lot of time searching for herps. The area around our cabins proved to be rich in herpetofauna, and Wednesday night a large group participated in a herp walk with Wekiwa Springs Park Biologist "Bubba" where we observed the hurricane damage of the park and found several additional species (see species list).   Click here for photo gallery.

Fri Dec 10:  Canoe trip down the Wekiwa River  Click here for photo gallery.

For More Information, Contact:

C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr. (ken_dodd@usgs.gov) 352-264-3507