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David A. Steen
David A. Steen is an American herpetologist and conservation biologist. He is Reptile and Amphibian Research Leader of the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), and was previously a research professor at Auburn University, where he completed his Ph.D. Steen runs a popular Twitter account where he offers reptile and amphibian identification and dispels myths about oft-maligned snakes such as copperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlesnakes. He won the Mindlin Foundation's "Mindlin Science Communication Prize" in 2017 for his efforts in online science communication. He is author of the book Secrets of Snakes: the Science Beyond the Myths. In 2018, along with researchers Sean P. Graham, Richard Kline, and Crystal Kelehear, he described a new species of aquatic salamander endemic to the Gulf coastal plain, ''Siren reticulata Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to ...
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Herpetology
Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodilians, and tuataras). Birds, which are cladistically included within Reptilia, are traditionally excluded here; the separate scientific study of birds is the subject of ornithology. The precise definition of herpetology is the study of ectothermic (cold-blooded) tetrapods. This definition of "herps" (otherwise called "herptiles" or "herpetofauna") excludes fish; however, it is not uncommon for herpetological and ichthyological scientific societies to collaborate. For instance, groups such as the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists have co-published journals and hosted conferences to foster the exchange of ideas between the fields. Herpetological societies are formed to ...
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Agkistrodon Contortrix
The eastern copperhead (''Agkistrodon contortrix''), also known simply as the copperhead, is a widespread species of venomous snake, a pit viper, endemic to eastern North America; it is a member of the subfamily Crotalinae in the Family (biology), family Viperidae. The eastern copperhead has distinctive, dark brown, hourglass-shaped markings, overlaid on a light reddish brown or brown/gray background. The body type is heavy, rather than slender. Neonates are born with green or yellow tail tips, which progress to a darker brown or black within one year. Adults grow to a typical length (including tail) of . In most of North America, the eastern copperhead favors Deciduous, deciduous forest and mixed woodlands. It may occupy rock outcroppings and ledges, but is also found in low-lying, swampy regions. During the winter, it hibernates in dens or limestone crevices, often together with timber rattlesnakes and black rat snakes. The eastern copperhead is known to feed on a wide variety ...
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American Ecologists
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label that was previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams S ...
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Siren Reticulata
Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology that lured sailors to their deaths. Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wisconsin, a village * Siren Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Siren Rock, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica People * Siren (surname) * Siren, stage name of female bodybuilder Shelley Beattie on the TV show ''American Gladiators'' * Siren, stage name of Valerie Waugaman on the 2008 revival of ''American Gladiators'' * Alexander Brandon (born 1974), American musician, known as "Siren" in the demoscene * Siren Sundby (born 1982), Norwegian Olympic sailor Animals * ''Siren'' (genus), a genus of aquatic salamanders in the family Sirenidae * '' Hestina'', a genus of brush-footed butterfly commonly called sirens * Sirenia, an order of aquatic mammals including dugongs and manatees * Sirenidae, a family of aquatic sal ...
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Gulf Coastal Plain
The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico. This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over most of Mississippi, western Tennessee and Kentucky, extreme southern Illinois, the Missouri Bootheel, eastern and southern Arkansas, all of Louisiana, the southeast corner of Oklahoma, and easternmost Texas in the United States. It continues along the Gulf in northeastern and eastern Mexico, through Tamaulipas and Veracruz to Tabasco and the Yucatan Peninsula, Yucatán Peninsula on the Bay of Campeche. Geography The Gulf Coastal Plain's southern boundary is the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in Mexico. On the north, it extends to the Ouachita Mountains, Ouachita Highlands of the Interior Low Plateaus and the southern Appalachian Mountains. Its northernmost extent is along the Mississippi embayment (Mississippi ...
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Endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or bec ...
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Salamander
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela, the sole surviving order from the group Caudata. ''Urodela'' is a scientific Latin term based on the Ancient Greek : ourà dēlē "conspicuous tail". ''Caudata'' is the Latin for "tailed ones", from : "tail". Salamander diversity is highest in eastern North America, especially in the Appalachian Mountains; most species are found in the Holarctic realm, with some species present in the Neotropical realm. Salamanders never have more than four toes on their front legs and five on their rear legs, but some species have fewer digits and others lack hind limbs. Their permeable skin usually makes them reliant on habitats in or near water or other cool, damp places. So ...
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Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genus, genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small animals such as birds and rodents. Rattlesnakes receive their name from the #Rattle, rattle located at the end of their tails, which makes a loud rattling noise when tail vibration, vibrated that deters predators. Rattlesnakes are the leading contributor to snakebite injuries in North America, but rarely bite unless provoked or threatened; if treated promptly, the bites are seldom fatal. The 36 known List of rattlesnake species and subspecies, species of rattlesnakes have between 65 and 70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from central Argentina to southern Canada. The largest rattlesnake, the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, eastern diamondback, can measure up to in length. Rattlesnakes are preyed upon by hawks, wease ...
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Cottonmouth
''Agkistrodon piscivorus'' is a species of venomous snake, a pit viper in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. It is one of the world's few semiaquatic vipers (along with the Florida cottonmouth), and is native to the Southeastern United States. As an adult, it is large and capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite. When threatened, it may respond by coiling its body and displaying its fangs. Individuals may bite when feeling threatened or being handled in any way. It tends to be found in or near water, particularly in slow-moving and shallow lakes, streams, and marshes. It is a capable swimmer, and like several species of snakes, is known to occasionally enter bays and estuaries and swim between barrier islands and the mainland. Gloyd HK, Conant R (1990). ''Snakes of the ''Agkistrodon'' Complex: A Monographic Review''. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 614 pp. 52 plates. LCCN 89-50342. . The generic name is derived from the Gree ...
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Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, images, and videos in Microblogging, short posts commonly known as "Tweet (social media), tweets" (officially "posts") and Like button, like other users' content. The platform also includes direct message, direct messaging, video and audio calling, bookmarks, lists, communities, a chatbot (Grok (chatbot), Grok), job search, and Spaces, a social audio feature. Users can vote on context added by approved users using the Community Notes feature. Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams (Internet entrepreneur), Evan Williams, and was launched in July of that year. Twitter grew quickly; by 2012 more than 100 million users produced 340 million daily tweets. Twitter, Inc., was based in San Francisco, C ...
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Ecology
Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history. Ecology is a branch of biology, and is the study of abundance (ecology), abundance, biomass (ecology), biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment. It encompasses life processes, interactions, and adaptations; movement of materials and energy through living communities; ecological succession, successional development of ecosystems; cooperation, competition, and predation within and between species; and patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes. Ecology has practical applications in fields such as conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource m ...
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Conservation Biology
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management. The nature conservation, conservation ethic is based on the findings of conservation biology. Origins The term conservation biology and its conception as a new field originated with the convening of "The First International Conference on Research in Conservation Biology" held at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California, in 1978 led by American biologists Bruce A. Wilcox and Michael E. Soulé with a group of leading university and zoo researchers and conservationists including Kurt Benirschke, Sir Otto Frankel, Thomas Lovejoy, and Jared Diamond. The meeting was prompted due to concern over tropical de ...
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