Below are some e-mails Dr. Lowman has received regarding her latest column in the Herald-Tribune, Burmese pythons uncoil across Florida, followed by Dr. Lowman’s responses.

Donna writes:

Re: Response to your latest article

After reading the article in todays paper, I realized that there was nothing addressed to the issue re these animals that are purchased and then released into the environment. Why is there no-one held accountable for releasing these animals? Further, why is no one held accountable for selling them in the first place? This practice should be illegal and t;he perpetrators should be held accountable! Today it is an alligator or ibis, tomorrow it could be a toddler in someone’s back yard! Please address this issue!

Donna,
Our country is spending more money on wars with the middle east than protecting our borders from invasive species. Only voters can change these priorities. It is good to be informed, and perhaps we can work to educate folks about these issues. Sorry I don’t have any more positive news about control of invasive species, but it would require some federal mandates (I am told) to limit pet stores from selling snakes, or to require states or counties to control invasives. And the animal rights groups are very vocal about saving snakes and lizards, so go figure! If you have a creative solution, send a letter to the editor!
cheers,
Meg

MC Coolidge writes:

Re: wow. your story on parthenogenating pythons!

Okay, maybe I made up the verb in the subject line, but still … what a story! You really opened my eyes and provided a much needed education. I’ve never owned a snake and frown upon that in general, but still found your editorial to be compelling.

I hope you can sell that piece to other publications and somehow get it into the hands of children who might want snakes as pets. I also wonder why we allow this species to be brought into the U.S……

Anyway, great piece, as usual.

All best,
MC Coolidge (aka Reality Chick)

Mary,
Thanks for writing! I am happy to serve as a science educator for southwest Florida — we don’t have enough knowledge available about our ecosystems in the public channels, it would appear!
Yours,
Meg

Miles writes:

Re: Your Python article

Dr. Lowman

I suggest that you use your influence to get the importation and sale of these creatures outlawed. They have no place in our country. I am sure that other environmental and wildlife associations would be on board with the banning of them. There is no reason for anyone to possess them. How long will it be before one of then catches a small child??

Thank you for publicizing this danger to us.

Miles

Dear Miles,
There is a strong lobby of people interested in defending animal rights, even in cases such as pythons where they are introduced and also kill local wildlife. Your best bet is to write your County Commissioners, asking them to take action. Or send a letter to the editor. My influence as a scientist is not nearly as powerful as your influence as a voter!
cheers,
Meg

George writes to provide an abstract and PDF of an article from the scientific journal Heredity:

I tracked down the original reference for python parthenogenesis. Convincing!

Molecular genetic evidence for parthenogenesis in the Burmese python, Python molurus bivittatus

Abstract

Parthenogenesis among reptiles is rare. Only a few species have the ability to reproduce asexually. Most of these are obligate parthenogenetic species that consist (almost) entirely of females, which can reproduce solely through parthenogenesis. Rarer are sexual species that only sporadically reproduce through parthenogenesis. A female Python molurus bivittatus(Reptilia, Boidae) from the Artis Zoo, Amsterdam, produced eggs in five consecutive years that contained embryos while she was isolated from males. These eggs might be fertilized with stored sperm, or might be the product of parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis has not been shown for the Boidae family before. We performed parentship analyses on the snake and seven of her embryos using microsatellites and AFLP. Four microsatellite loci developed for this species combined with three loci developed previously for different snake species revealed too little variation to discriminate between sperm retention and parthenogenesis. With AFLP we were able to confirm that the Artis Zoo female reproduced parthenogenetically. Because the offspring are genetically identical to their mother, whereas in previous studies on sporadic parthenogenesis in snakes a loss of genetic information was reported, we conclude that the meiotic pathways that produce the diploid egg cells are different.

PDF of the article

Dr. Meg Lowman is presenting a talk on Florida’s Adaptation to Climate Change at the Oxford University roundtable conference entitled Sustainability: The Ultimate Quest during August 10-15, 2009.

SAVE THESE DATES!!!!!

5^th International Canopy Conference 2009
Forest Canopies: Conservation, Climate Change, and Sustainable Use
October 26-31 2009 Bangalore INDIA

Download the brochure

Forest canopies are the least explored habitats in the world. They not only support high terrestrial biodiversity, but also represent a critical interface between the atmosphere and the earth. Forest canopies also provide goods and services to support diverse human activities. Thus interactions between forests and humanity offer opportunities to explore sustainable use of such resources, particularly for sustaining local livelihoods. Sustainability is vital for environmental policies to foster conservation, sustainable use and mitigation/adaptation to climate change. This demands the integration of canopy science with physical science, social science and information technology.

The 5^th international canopy conference in 2009 will bring diverse professionals together to build inter-disciplinary links in canopy science to foster increased understanding of this unique subset of forest ecosystems. ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment) is the major supporting institution for the conference, with Convenors Dr. Soubadra Devy (soubadra@atree.org) and Dr. T. Ganesh (tganesh@atree.org). Dr. Kamal Bawa and Dr. Margaret Lowman will serve as co-chairs. The goal of the conference will be to highlight the respect to important global challenges, especially climate change, sustainability, and conservation. The conference will provide an opportunity to build networks across continents, to facilitate capacity-building, and to address issues requiring information from multiple sites, within countries and across continents. The proceedings of the conference will be published in an edited volume, with a subset of papers published as a special issue of an international journal. Special sessions will be held on: Education; Climate Change; Ecosystem Services and Sustainability Initiatives; Innovative Tools; and an Emerging Issues Round Table discussion.

Special features of the conference include:

• All-day field trip to view Indian forests and inspire discussion
• Canopy film festival (similar to the successful programs from the 1^st conference)
• Canopy awards ceremony
• Student session
• Publiclecture to promote canopy education
• Opening Plenary talk by Thomas E. Lovejoy, President, H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

Save these dates! A timeline leading up the conference will be:

1. Call for symposia - January 2009
2. Call for abstracts - March 2009
3. Registration by 10 April 2009
4. More information will be posted on www.atree.org

Please contact Soubadra or Ganesh (emails above) with suggestions for speakers that may represent new, unpublished, innovative canopy projects around the globe.

Photos from the Amazon Rainforest Workshop led by Meg Lowman on June 24 - July 2, 2008:

Professor Lowman and New college undergraduates studying herbivory and Ethnobotany in the forest canopy of the Amazon rain forests in Peru. Lowman’s field class tested a hypothesis that medicinal plants in this region would have lower herbivory levels than non-medicinal plants. Working with the local shaman, students measured 20 species for herbivory, and their hypothesis was based on the assumption that plants used for medicinal purposes may also contain a relatively high level of chemicals (which infer the medicinal properties). The results are still being analyzed, but students will take a poster to the Ecological Society of America annual meeting in Milwaukee, WI.

Meg Lowman was the explorer chosen for a classroom assignment by 4th grade student, Colleen Schulken, at Webster Hill Elementary School in West Hartford, CT.

The assignment from the classroom teacher was to create a passport about an explorer.  The explorer could be of the student’s choosing.  Colleen wanted to explore a woman, who is currently exploring rainforest.  After a search on the internet they found Dr. Lowman.

Below are some scans of the passport from the class assignment:

Dr. Lowman will be a keynote speaker at the 33rd Annual Ecological Society of Australia (ESA) Conference.

The conference will be held at the University of Sydney NSW from December 1- 5, 2008.

Additional details can be found here.

“CanopyMeg” Lowman has climbed thousands of trees over her thirty-year career as an arbornaut and canopy biologist. Meg’s undergraduate students at New College edited some of her numerous videos from television and educational programming, to create a synopsis of “best climbs”. Enjoy!

Charissa Jones, one of TREE Foundations first student research interns, recently graduated with a degree in environmental studies. Thanks for TREE Foundation support, Charissa has worked passionately in the field of environmental education, taking on local outreach with middle schools and extending her work nationally with the Ecological Society of America SEEDS program. Here is a short video from Charissa’s undergraduate thesis work, where she inspired local elementary students to engage in field biology through their search for Tardigrades, a cryptic yet common organism found on all continents. Congratulations, Charissa!