Welcome to the Richard B. King Laboratory
Whats Happening
Nerodio 2007,our annual Lake Erie watersnake population census, took place from 28 May – 10 June. This year’s census demonstrated the continued recovery this federally threatened species. Nearly 1700 watersnakes were captured, measured, marked, and released during the two week census period and more than 20 individuals participated, including current and former NIU students, students from other colleges and universities, professional herpetologists, area naturalists, island-region residents. Among new participants this year were Dr. Bruce Kingbury, professor of biology at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne, and Dr. Bob Brodman, professor of biology at Saint Joseph University. In addition, Dr. Francisco (‘Paco’) Moore and 18 members of his herpetology class at University of Akron joined us for a day of snake and salamander hunting on Kelleys Island.
Nerodio 2007 ended with a one-day Kid’s Nerodio and Herpetology Open-House. Kid’s Nerodio provided a chance for 17 10-13 year old’s to catch and process Lake Erie watersnakes, conduct radiotelemetry, and visit a recently constructed artificial hibernaculum being used by the Ohio Division of Wildlife to mitigate watersnake habitat loss. The Herpetology Open-House provided an opportunity to see and handle captive specimans of amphibians and reptiles from the Lake Erie area and elsewhere and directly observe Lake Erie watersnake census techniques and feeding experiments. More than 500 visitors attended. Both the Kid’s Nerodio and Herpetology Open-House were organized by Kristin Stanford, NIU research associate and PhD student, and were hosted by the F. T. Stone Laboratory with participation by members of the Northern Ohio Association of Herpetologists (NOAH) and the Cincinnati Herpetological Society.