[Bristol-Birds] Bern Tryon speaker Roan Mnt. Naturalist Rally
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <butternuts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:15:24 -0500
Bern Tryon, Director of Animal Collections/Herpetology at the Knoxville
Zoological Gardens, will be the speaker for the 48th Annujal Roan Mountain
Spring Naturalist Rally to be held May 5-6-7, 2006.
The rally will be held at the Roan Mountain State Park Conference Center. It
is sponsored by The Friends of Roan Mountain.
Tryon first entered the zoo profession in 1971 and worked in the herp
departments at zoos in Atlanta, Fort Worth, and Houston prior to coming to
Knoxville in 1984. His primary interests are natural history and conservation
of chelonians and snakes. Since 1986, he has been the primary researcher in a
study of bog turtles in Tennessee. In addition to these field studies, the zoo
developed a captive-breeding program for Bog Turtles which has been successful
since 1988.
Bern served on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Study of
Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) and for 12 years was Section Editor for
Herpetological Husbandry for Herpetological Review, a quarterly publication of
SSAR. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Chelonian Conservation and
Biology, a professional journal published by the Chelonian Research Foundation.
He also is on the Board of Directors for the Tortoise Reserve, Inc. a
non-profit corporation dedicated to the international conservation of tortoises
and freshwater turtles. The reserve helps with the recovery of stressed and
endangered populations through enhanced public awareness, the development of
regional conservation strategies, support of successful existing programs, and
conservation-oriented research. Of primary interest are local programs which
address the interrelated roles of chelonians within specific biotic communities
and involvement of the private sector in conservation.
is now Curator of Living Collections.Let's go birding.....
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
This important initiative has combinedstatewide efforts for the
species,maintains a data base for bog turtles inthe south, and has been
instrumental inassisting the conservation efforts ofPhoto by R. G. Tuck, Jr.
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Page 2
ENDANGERED SPECIES BULLETIN MAY/JUNE 1999 VOLUME XXIV NO. 313private landowners
through easements,habitat maintenance, and education.As part of Project Bog
Turtle, Hermanand his colleagues continue to play alarge role in identifying
new turtle sitesthroughout the species' southern range.In the early 1990's,
Herman and Ijoined forces with George Amato andJohn Behler of the Wildlife
Conserva-tion Society/Bronx Zoo in a study ofturtle genetics. In a 2-year
period, wewere able to collect blood samples from64 bog turtles representing
all 5 States inthe southern range as well as samplesfrom Maryland and Delaware.
Anexamination of mitochondrial DNAshowed no differentiation amongpopulations,
but additional analysis willsoon be underway.My own program had its start
whenHerman, along with Jim Warner (a bogturtle expert from Connecticut),
discov-ered the first bog turtle in Tennessee inMay 1986. We quickly identified
theonly two turtle sites in Tennesseeknown to date. The Tennessee projecthas
not only encompassed 14 seasonsof field work but a captive breedingelement as
well. In late 1986, a large,naturalistic outdoor bog exhibit wasconstructed at
the Knoxville Zoo,providing an attractive facility forenvironmental education
and for raisingbog turtles. (The American Zoo andAquarium Association awarded
theKnoxville Zoo its Significant Achieve-ment Award for this exhibit in
1989.)The Knoxville Zoo's captive breedingprogram has produced 103 bog
turtlessince 1988. Working with the TennesseeWildlife Resources Agency (TWRA),
thezoo developed a head-start/releaseprogram. Since 1991, 84
captive-bredturtles have been released into a largesite in a neighboring
county.In any wildlife endeavor, the valueof partnerships cannot be
underesti-mated. Here in Tennessee, the Knox-ville Zoo, TWRA, The Nature
Conser-vancy of Tennessee (TNC), and the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service (with
supportand funding from Asheville, NorthCarolina, Field Office through
thePartners for Fish and Wildlife Program)have joined forces to establish the
bogturtle as a flagship species for a rapidlydisappearing wetland ecosystem.
Onlythree percent of the State's naturallyoccurring wetlands are found in
easternTennessee and atiny fraction of thisincludes bog turtlehabitat. Through
thecombined efforts ofthese organizations,especially TNC, a65-acre
(26-hectare)habitat restorationproject now under-way in rural Ten-nessee may
help toprovide a bright fu-ture for bog turtlesin this State.Bern Tryon is
Curator of the Depart-ment of Herpetology at the Knoxville Zoo.REFERENCESAmato,
G., J. L. Behler, B. W. Tryon, and D. W.Herman. 1997. Molecular variation in
the bogturtle, Clemmys muhlenbergii. In: Proceedings,Conservation, Restoration,
and Management ofTortoises and Turtles-An International Confer-ence. Pp.
259-262. NY Turtle and TortoiseSociety.Herman, D. W., and B. W. Tryon. 1997.
Land Use,Development, and Natural Succession and TheirEffects on Bog Turtle
Habitat in the Southeast-ern United States. In: Proceedings, Conserva-tion,
Restoration, and Management of Tortoisesand Turtles-An International
Conference. Pp.364-371. NY Turtle and Tortoise Society.Tryon, B. W. 1990. Bog
Turtles (Clemmysmuhlenbergii) in the South - A Question ofSurvival. Bull.
Chicago Herp. Soc. 25 (4): 57-66.Tryon, B. W., and D. W. Herman. 1990.
Status,Conservation, and Management of the BogTurtle, Clemmys muhlenbergii, in
the South-eastern United States. In: Proceedings, FirstInternational Symposium
on Turtles and Tor-toises: Conservation and Captive Husbandry.Pp. 36-52.
Chapman University and the Califor-nia Turtle and Tortoise Club.Photo by Bern
W. Tryon
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