further study

[waruikazi]

If i stick my current job out for two more years i get a paid year off for study and if i make a good enough proposal to my department they will also pay for my further study.

At the moment i have three options:

• Do a fluff course like a cooking two nights a week for a month and spend most of my year off drunk and travelling,
• go for a masters/research in my current area or
• do something completely different like a BSc, probably in animal behaviour, in the hope there would be something herpetology related that i could sink my teeth into. (Probably through Flinders)

I am really keen to study something in the realms of herpetology but i have no intention of working in the sciences. Which i think is a bit of an advantage because it means i can afford to be choosey.

My question is; considering that i am not going to work (like formal employment) in the feild, is studying the sciences at the higher ed level an efficient way to learn more about herpetology? Or am i likely to learn just as much doing what i do now like feild herping, reading papers and books and rubbing shoulders with other herpers?

 

[Renenet]

Interesting question. I can't help with an answer, but I'm looking forward to reading some knowledgeable responses.

 

[SteveNT]

Well I've always taken the first option.

Result - No formal qualifications (still spent more than a decade lecturing at Uni level), heaps of of fabulous jobs, a rich life and never ending, ever expanding knowledge base. Oh, and I got good enough to play representative 8 ball

 

[waruikazi]

Lol Steve! I actually have aplan to accomodate the best part of option A at the same time as B or C.

If i get my study done while i'm still working i can get the time off in lieu. So study while i'm in almond land with nothing to do and then take the year off, travel and get drunk without the cooking course!

 

[Waterrat]

Gordo, ask yourself what do you want to learn more about herpetology? Although herpetology is nowhere near as wide field as zoology, there are still many aspects of the discipline.
What is your core interest; behaviour, conservation, physiology, genetics, etc.? BSc (zoology / herpetology major) will give you an introduction to all of that but at the end of the day, you're still a generalist. You will learn a heel of a lot about herpetology in you end up as a postgraduate in Rick Shine's lab, sharing your passion with a good number of other herpetologists. It won't be the same if you end up as a postgrad in other institution with no prominent herpetologist in house.

 

[longqi]

Why not apply for a tesol job in central kalimantan or papua? [not png but the old iryan jaya]
play with new beasties and get paid??

 

[waruikazi]

Cause i'm already doing that here! I'm teaching in West Arnhem Land, which is all ESL. And i run one of the few relocation services on permit in the NT out here and go out into the bush all the time to play with horrible nasty bitey things lol.

Why not apply for a tesol job in central kalimantan or papua? [not png but the old iryan jaya]
play with new beasties and get paid??

Gordo, ask yourself what do you want to learn more about herpetology? Although herpetology is nowhere near as wide field as zoology, there are still many aspects of the discipline.
What is your core interest; behaviour, conservation, physiology, genetics, etc.? BSc (zoology / herpetology major) will give you an introduction to all of that but at the end of the day, you're still a generalist. You will learn a heel of a lot about herpetology in you end up as a postgraduate in Rick Shine's lab, sharing your passion with a good number of other herpetologists. It won't be the same if you end up as a postgrad in other institution with no prominent herpetologist in house.

That's kinda the thing, because i don't have a science background i don't know where or what i could specialize in. A ten year goal would be in a position to publish or contribute to science journal articles, but i don't want to be a Hoser and publish stupid stuff that doesn't stand upto being peer reviewed.

 

[Waterrat]

Gordo, here is a job for you ..... and Dr. Canning in the end.

[FONT=Helvetica, Verdana, Arial]Subject: Borneo Bound Biologists Take Note
[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]

CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 November 2011

Borneo Bound
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY THE HERPETOFAUNA OF BORNEO

We are looking for a full time Research Assistant for a project entitled

EFFECTS OF HABITAT FEATURES AND FRAGMENTATION ON HERPETOFAUNAL COMMUNITIES IN WESTERN SARAWAK

The project is supported by a Fundamental Research Grant from the Ministry of Higher Education, Government of Malaysia.

The project will commence soon as an appointment has been made, and the Research Assistant will be employed for 24 months. A month stipend of RM 1,000 is payable, in addition to travel claims. The candidate is expected to register for graduate studies, preferably a PhD, with the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

A brief description of the project follows:

Western Sarawak (comprising the divisions of Kuching and Samarahan), comprising a land area of 9,527 sq km, and is home to several endemic lineages of plants and animals. Its landscape has been heavily modified since the early 1900s, and presently comprises a mosaic of remnant habitats- forests and flood plains, sometimes widely separated by urban and agricultural areas. Within forested fragments are areas protected as National Parks, although knowledge of critical habitat features required for target organisms are often absent. In such landscapes, the capacity to detect early change in assemblages and populations makes it possible to take proactive conservation and management measures.

In this study, we will test responses of herpetofaunal communities of lowland forests and midhills to environmental/landscape features, fragmentation and isolation, through field sampling, as well as analysis of existing information (museum specimens and published records), using logistic regression and linear multiple and/or multivariate regression models to relate species presence in forest patches, to specific forest patch features and isolation. We will study habitat loss and fragmentation (that potentially lead to isolation and stochastic extinction), through investigations of movements and microhabitat use of selected groups of amphibians, reptiles, and turtles. Finally, we will study the effects of highways on herpetological communities through examination of phenology of road-mortalities and the effect of low frequency noise to the auditory performance of advertising amphibians.

Anticipated benefits of the project would be answering the question whether the protected areas system protect representative herpetofaunal communities, creation of specimen-based herpetofaunal inventories of protected and other areas of western Sarawak, identification of key habitat features for species, improving habitat connectivity for long-term survival of populations, acquisition of species-specific ecological knowledge and understanding the effect of highways and vehicular traffic on communities, in order to make recommendations for the persistence of herpetological populations for posterity.

Interested candidates can apply with a CV, with list of publications and names and email contacts of 3 referees to the undersigned.

Prof. Indraneil Das
Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
94300 Kota Samarahan
Sarawak, Malaysia
[email protected][/FONT]
​

 

[longqi]

But imagine working on Misool or Kofiau for a year
Some of the best diving fishing and beasties on Earth over there
I had pet cuscus etc
They are screaming for educators all through that area
Kalimantan Sulawesi Central Sumatra are the same with the added bonus of gorgeous women

 

[waruikazi]

Except for the diving part you could change all of those places for Gunbalanya! I live in some of the most spectacular stone country in the world with the oldest living culture in the world. And what's best is in the dry season if i get cabin fever i can jump in my car and be back in Darwin in three and a half hours.

Really, just look at what i live in!

I'll go overseas one of these years, but i think i need to do my bit for our backyard first. But i'll be coming on one of your Boeleni safaris as soon as i can afford it.

But imagine working on Misool or Kofiau for a year
Some of the best diving fishing and beasties on Earth over there
I had pet cuscus etc
They are screaming for educators all through that area
Kalimantan Sulawesi Central Sumatra are the same with the added bonus of gorgeous women

 

[euphorion]

Ugh, lucky bugger.

 

[Bluetongue1]

You do not need a tertiary education to be a respected herpetologist and publish scientific papers. People I know work in conjunction with a museum or a tertiary institution or a well established environmental consultancy, providing them with data and in return they provide the validation of their data collection methods and analysis techniques.

With a B.Sc. it depends on the institution as to how much specialisation they allow and how soon. That info is available on the net. I had to do Maths, Physics, Chem and Biol (or Geol) in first year. I got to specialise after that and did a double zoology major.

What I enjoyed about the degree is that I learned about such things as invertebrate groups, their structure and function, the vertebrate groups structure and function, evolution of the vertebrates, basic genetics, cell structure, function and general biochemistry, basic ecology (distribution and abundance), vertebrate embryology, animal behaviour plus one unit I cannot recall at the moment. I feel this has allowed me to have a much better understanding of structure, functioning, basic biochemistry, reproduction and ecological significance of reptiles and amphibians. It also allows a perspective of these animals in the broader context of the animal kingdom.

You definitely don’t need that context to be good at herpetology. I enjoy it because I have an interest in all things biological, with a particular passion for reptiles and frogs.

Blue