From tiny, burrowing lizards to rainforest canopy-dwellers and giant crocodiles, reptile populations everywhere are changing. Yet government and conservation groups are often forced to make important decisions about reptile conservation and management based on inadequate or incomplete data. With contributions from nearly seventy specialists, this volume offers a comprehensive guide to the best methods for carrying out standardized quantitative and qualitative surveys of reptiles, while maximizing comparability of data between sites, across habitats and taxa, and over time. The contributors discuss each method, provide detailed protocols for its implementation, and suggest ways to analyze the data, making this volume an essential resource for monitoring and inventorying reptile abundance, population status, and biodiversity.
"Reptile Biodiversity "covers topics including:
- terrestrial, marine, and aquatic reptiles
- equipment recommendations and limitations
- ethics of monitoring and inventory activities
- statistical procedures
- designing sampling programs
- using PDAs in the field

Having spent years studying turtles in their native habitats, Archie Carr brought together a wealth of information in this celebrated volume. Organized in clear and concise fashion, written in an engaging and lively manner, and furnished with black-and-white photographs, drawings, and maps, Handbook of Turtles (first published in 1952) gives a comprehensive summary of 79 species and subspecies of North American turtles. In the foreword to 1995 paperback edition, J. Whitfield Gibbons, renowned ecologist and natural history author, brings the book into historical perspective and supplies information to bring it up to date. In the introduction, Carr considers such topics as turtle physiology, reproduction, growth, adaptation, and behavior. The introduction also includes discussions of methods for collecting specimens, the evolutionary origins of turtles, and the mythology and folklore surrounding the turtle. The second part of the volume is organized according to keys that give identifying characteristics, life histories, and illustrations of each species. Under headings of geographical range, distinguishing features, description, habitat, habits, breeding, feeding, and economic importance, the volume provides detailed accounts of the various species and subspecies. Throughout Carr offers colorful recollections and anecdotes about his fieldwork and research.

Adventures and misadventures exploring nature on a patch of "worthless" abandoned farmland Following his retirement from academic life, renowned naturalist and writer Whit Gibbons and his family purchased a tract of abandoned farmland where the South Carolina piedmont meets the coastal plain. Described as backcountry scrubland, it was originally envisioned as a family retreat, but soon the property became Gibbons's outdoor learning laboratory where he was often aided by his four grandchildren, along with a host of enthusiastic visitors. Inspired by nature's power to excite, educate, and provide a sense of place in the world, Gibbons invites readers to learn about their surrounding environments by describing his latest adventures and sharing expert advice for exploring the world in which we live. Peppered throughout with colorful personal anecdotes and told with Gibbons's affable style and wit, Salleyland: Wildlife Adventures in Swamps, Sandhills, and Forests is more than a personal memoir or a record of place. Rather, it is an exercise in learning about a patch of nature, thereby reminding us to open our eyes to the complexity and wonder of the natural world. Starting with the simple advice of following your own curiosity, Gibbons discusses different opportunities and methods for exploring one's surroundings, introduces key ecological concepts, offers advice for cultivating habitat, explains the value of and different approaches to keeping lists and field journals, and celebrates the advances that cell phone photography and wildlife cameras offer naturalists of all levels. With Gibbons's guidance and encouragement, readers will learn to embrace their inner scientists, equipped with the knowledge and encouragement to venture beyond their own front doors, ready to discover the secrets of their habitat, regardless of where they live.

Ecoviews Too examines various human attitudes toward wildlife and the environment, focusing on seasonal occurrences and natural adaptations. Whit Gibbons and Anne R. Gibbons's Ecoviews Too: Ecology for All Seasons is based on the popular weekly column "Ecoviews," published by numerous newspapers for more than thirty years. A follow-up to Ecoviews: Snakes, Snails and Environmental Tales, this lively and entertaining book provides a fascinating and thought-provoking look at the ecology of animals, plants, and their habitats, and promotes awareness of pressing environmental issues. Because nature, in all its myriad and amazing manifestations, can be enjoyed all year round, this collection is conveniently divided into four sections paralleling the seasons and tracking the adaptations and responses of wildlife to the relentless changes that occur at any location over time. The ecological vignettes focus on seasonal happenings, particularly holidays and historic events that define a moment when the connection between society and our natural surroundings was fundamentally altered. An intriguing and captivating publication, Ecoviews Too is comprised of fifty informative essays that address ecological topics such as camouflage and mimicry, hibernation and estivation, the human need to encounter scary animals, the mysteries of plant dormancy in winter, the comeback of the wild turkey coinciding with the decline of bobwhites, the chemistry behind the color change in fall leaves, and the top ten environmental problems facing the world today. Educating, entertaining, and delighting a general audience, especially those with an interest in nature, Ecoviews Too provides a useful resource for students and scientists alike.