Martha L. "Marty" Crump is a behavioral ecologist in the Department of Biology and the Ecology Center at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

who studies

amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

and

reptiles Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

. Crump was the first individual to perform a long-term ecological study on a community of

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

amphibians, and did pioneering work in the classification of variability in

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

size as a function of

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

predictability. She has co-authoried one of the most popular modern herpetology textbooks, ''Herpetology'' (1997–2015) as well as the memoir ''In Search of the Golden Frog'' (2000) and a number of other books for both adults and children. In 1997, she received the Distinguished Herpetologist Award from The Herpetologists’ League.

Childhood

Martha L. "Marty" Crump was born in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, and her interest in

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 lev ...

and the environment were spurred by her childhood spent in the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the highest point in Ne ...

of upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Education and Research

While an undergraduate at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, she worked in the herpetology division of the Museum of Natural History, and after graduation, she participated in a faunal survey of

and

in a remote area of the upper Amazon Basin,

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. She received her master's degree at the University of Kansas for her research in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

concerning amphibians and reptiles, and did her doctorate research in Ecuador on frogs’ reproductive behavior. After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, she became a professor of zoology at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, where she continued her research in Ecuador, and also performed research in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, focusing on amphibian parental care,

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...

, and

reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: Asexual reproduction, asexual and Sexual ...

. Crump was the first individual to perform a long-term ecological study on a community of

amphibians. She studied reproductive strategies in the

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

anuran A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to ...

community at Santa Cecilia, Ecuador and recognized ten different modes of reproduction. These categories were later modified and adapted for all anuran reproductive patterns that scientists are currently aware of. Crump was also a pioneer in classifying variability in

size as a function of

predictability. Her research, focusing on tropical tree frogs, shows that in species that breed in temporary

ponds A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression, either naturally or artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing the two, although defining a pond t ...

, individual females produce clutches that have a greater range of egg sizes while those breeding in permanent ponds have a very concentrated distribution, rarely deviating from the mean. She has also been involved in several conservation activities, including acting as a board member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as part of the DAPTF (Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force) from 2000 to 2010. She has held several editorial positions including Associate Editor of ''Herpetological Natural History'' from 2000 to 2006 and has served as an officer in several professional organizations including the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, and The Herpetologists’ League. She is currently the Program Officer for the annual scientific conference Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH). Crump co-authored all four editions of one of the two most popular modern herpetology textbooks, ''Herpetology'' (1997–2015). Her other books include a memoir, ''In Search of the Golden Frog'' (2000). In addition to books for adults, she has written several books for children, including ''Amphibians and Reptiles: An Introduction to Their Natural History and Conservation'' (2011) and ''The Mystery of Darwin's Frog'' (2013). In 1997, Crump received the Distinguished Herpetologist Award from The Herpetologists’ League.

List of works

* ''A Year with Nature: An Almanac'' by Marty Crump (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2018, ) * ''In Search of the Golden Frog'' by Marty Crump (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000, ) * ''Headless Males Make Great Lovers: And Other Unusual Natural Histories'' by Marty Crump (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006, ) * ''Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers: & Other Unusual Relationships'' by Marty Crump (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2009, ) * ''Mysteries of the Komodo Dragon: The Biggest, Deadliest Lizard Gives Up Its Secrets'' by Marty Crump (Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2010, ) * ''Amphibians and Reptiles: An Introduction to Their Natural History and Conservation'' by Marty Crump (Granville, OH: McDonald & Woodward Publishing, 2011, ) * ''Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog, Adder's Fork and Lizard's Leg: The Lore and Mythology of Amphibians and Reptiles'' by Marty Crump (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011, ) * ''The Mystery of Darwin's Frog'' by Marty Crump (Boyds Mills, 2013, ) * ''Herpetology'' (1st Edition) by F. Harvey Pough, Robin M. Andrews, John E. Cadle, Martha L. Crump, Alan H. Savitzky, and Kentwood D. Wells (Pearson, 1997, ) * ''Herpetology'' (2nd Edition) by F. Harvey Pough, Robin M. Andrews, John E. Cadle, Martha L. Crump, Alan H. Savitzky, and Kentwood D. Wells (Prentice Hall, 2000, ) * ''Herpetology'' (3rd Edition) by F. Harvey Pough, Robin M. Andrews, John E. Cadle, Martha L. Crump, Alan H. Savitzky, and Kentwood D. Wells (Benjamin Cummings, 2003, ) * ''Herpetology'' (4th Edition) by F. Harvey Pough, Robin M. Andrews, Martha L. Crump, Alan H. Savitzky, Kentwood D. Wells, Matthew C. Brandley (Sinauer, 2015, )

References

External links

An excerpt
from ''Headless Males Make Great Lovers: and Other Unusual Natural Histories''

from ''In Search of the Golden Frog''

from ''Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers: and Other Unusual Relationships'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Crump, Marty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American ecologists American herpetologists Northern Arizona University faculty University of Kansas alumni Utah State University faculty