4th Box Turtle Conservation Workshop
March 22-23, 2013
North Carolina Zoological Park, Asheboro, North Carolina
Registration is now open for the 4th Box Turtle Conservation Workshop.
This workshop takes place March 22-23, 2013, at the North Carolina Zoo
and is aimed at individuals actively engaged in Box Turtle research
and conservation. A tour of the NC Zoo will take place on Sunday,
March 24th.
The workshop is sponsored by the National Box Turtle Conservation
Committee, the North Carolina Zoological Park, the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro, the National Science Foundation, the HERP
Project, and the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Maryland. To access
the registration form, go to, http://tickets.nczoo.org/Info.aspx?EventID=30
. Deadline for registration is February 1, 2013.
Objectives: The workshop will focus on Box Turtle population status,
ecology, life history strategies, systematics, and epidemiology. A
special session on infectious diseases, chaired by Dr. Matt Allender,
will be held in light of recent concerns over ranavirus in wild box
turtles. Box Turtle populations are declining throughout their range,
yet few efforts have been made to assess current population status for
developing long-term conservation strategies. A major goal of the
workshop is to provide current information on population size
throughout the species' range, and to encourage population studies in
states where these turtles occur.
Abstract Format: Researchers are invited to submit an abstract of 500
words or less describing ongoing or completed research related to the
workshop objectives. Submit the abstract as an attachment (MS Word
format); do not paste the abstract directly into your email message.
Please include your name, email address and phone number,
organizational affiliation, presentation title, and indicate your
preference for an oral presentation or a poster.
Deadline for Abstracts: The deadline for receipt of abstracts is
January 15, 2013.
Email your abstract to Sandy Barnett at [email protected].
Abstracts will be reviewed by the conference organizers and evaluated
on the basis of their consistency with workshop objectives and the
geographic area represented by the project/research study that is
described. Authors will be notified by January 30 if their abstract is
accepted.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Michael Dorcas of Davidson College will be the
keynote speaker. Dr. Dorcas will discuss Eastern Box Turtle
demography, conservation, and strategies for helping wild populations
by engaging citizen scientists. He has studied the life history
strategies and ecology of reptiles and amphibians for over 20 years
and has published more than 75 scientific papers. The Dorcas
undergraduate herpetology program at Davidson College has published a
number of papers and has many projects underway. Dr. Dorcas serves on
the Box Turtle Connection Committee in North Carolina and in 2009 he
was elected a AAAS Fellow (American Association for the Advancement of
Science)
Registration and Contact Information: $85 (professional); $75 (full-
time students). To register on-line, to view the agenda, and to learn
more about the workshop, please visit our web site at www.boxturtleconservation.org
. If you have questions about the workshop, please contact John Groves
at [email protected].
This is the fourth in a series of workshops aimed at bringing together
individuals actively engaged in Box Turtle research and conservation.
To view and download a report on the first Box Turtle Conservation
Workshop held in 2004, please visit our website and click on
publications.
