Applied Herpetology
Applied herpetology may be broadly defined as the interaction between humans and amphibians and/or reptiles. The subject includes both the utilisation of amphibians and reptiles, and the effects of human activities on individuals, populations and communities. It is likely to be a subject of increasing importance, if in future less funding becomes available for research on amphibians and reptiles that is not applied.
The idea of the journal, Applied Herpetology, was first mooted with a poster displayed at the 3rd World Congress of Herpetology in Prague, 1997. Applied herpetology as a subject was then more formally defined, with the journal as a vehicle for promoting it, at a plenary Workshop during the 4th World Congress of Herpetology in Sri Lanka, 2001.
It is intended that Applied Herpetology will include papers on topics that have usually been published in specialist journals outside herpetology. Arguably, such papers have previously had reduced impact among herpetologists, or even been lost to the general herpetological community. There are perhaps six main topics that might be identified as comprising applied herpetology:
Natural products development: amphibians and reptiles as a source of bioactive material – antibiotics, analgesics, diuretics and anticoagulants; toxinology (snake and lizard venoms) and pharmacology (amphibian skin secretions).
Farming: captive breeding and husbandry techniques to maintain stocks for education, exhibition, experimental purposes, food and other commodities (reptile leather industry; tortoiseshell), as well as for the restocking of wild populations; pathology and disease.
Ethnobiology: Scientific (rather than purely cultural) aspects; comparative study of the uses of amphibians and reptiles by human societies; epidemiology of snake bite; attitudes and behaviour of humans towards amphibians and reptiles, in the wild and in captivity.
Environmental monitoring and ecotoxicology: amphibian teratological studies to monitor environmental health via incidence of abnormalities in populations; bioaccumulation of heavy metals and other pollutants such as pesticides in tissues of amphibians and reptiles, and species’ use in turn as bioindicators of habitat contamination; residue loads as biomarkers of contaminant levels entering food chains; endocrine disruption from pollution.
Conservation and wildlife management: species protection and autecology; biodiversity assessment; use of species richness and assemblages as bioindicators of habitat quality and change; habitat management; establishment of faunal reserves; reintroduction and relocation, including genetic and veterinary aspects; extinction; sustainable utilization of economic species; management of pest species; biological control.
Legal and ethical aspects: welfare; conservation; international trade; introduced species; forensic investigations; use in education and research; humane treatment.
Applied Herpetology is now ready to publish papers on any of these topics. Groups of papers from conferences on aspects of applied herpetology will be considered for publication as special issues of the journal. Descriptions or evaluations of techniques are not regarded as being of high priority, and will only be considered if they closely address applied herpetology as defined here. Apart from encouraging prospective authors to submit manuscripts for consideration, the editorial board invites comments from the readership of Applied Herpetology on overall subject coverage, and requests suggestions on content for future issues.
Michael Lambert and Adrian Hailey
APPLIED HERPETOLOGY 1: 1-2