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incredulousTopic: Frog Blog Profiles
Dr. Mike Finkler, Associate Professor of Biology at Indiana University at Kokomo, has agreed to do a Frog Blog interview to let us know about the work he does helping to better understand the physiology of amphibians and reptiles and how to use that to help conserve them. He has a wide range of field experience in Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio and Indiana involving snakes (northern water snakes, eastern garter snakes and queensnakes), turtles (snapping and ornate box turtles) and salamanders (spotted, tiger, smallmouth, and jefferson-blue spotted hybrids). I have been fortunate to go to two lectures he arranged with Dr. Jeffrey A. Wilson of U of M about paleontology, and with Dr. Paul Sotherland of Kalamazoo College about the Leatherback turtle. I also had the opportunity to hear Dr. Finkler speak about Snapping turtles at the March meeting of the Hoosier Herpetological Society. This was truly a delight.
Top Ten Questions on the Board
Wendell's Frog Blog Online Interview
1)WFB: Name, Rank and Serial Number. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where
are you from? Where did you go to school? Maybe a little about your family?
(Married? Siblings?) Hobbies?
Dr. Finkler: I spent my childhood in northeast Pennsylvania and went to high school in
Southwest Michigan. I have my B.A. from Kalamazoo College, and my M.S. and
Ph.D. from Miami University (the one in Ohio, not to be confused with the
University of Miami, which is in Florida). I have two children: Matthew, who
just turned four, and Anna, who is 18 months. In what little spare time I have
these days, I play guitar, enjoy nature, and cook.
2)WFB: What sparked your interest in amphibians?
Dr. Finkler: My interest in herps is due to a number of factors. My mother has her
bachelor's degree in zoology from the Univ. of Penn., and when I was a child she
regularly took the family to the Philadelphia Zoo and museums such as the
Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and the Carnegie Museum of Natural
History in Pittsburg. That, coupled by my love of Godzilla movies, fostered an
interest in dinosaurs, and since at the time the dominant paradigm was still
that dinosaurs were essentially big lizards, I became fascinated with reptiles
and, since they kind of look like reptiles, amphibians. That childhood love of
these animals never went away, and when in grad school I had an opportunity to
actually turn this into a career.
3)WFB: What is your favorite amphibian,
and why?
Dr. Finkler: As for a favorite amphibian, don't make me choose! Their all pretty cool.
4)WFB: Do you keep any pets?
Dr. Finkler: I keep some tropical fish, and a few turtles. I have a Mississippi that I
adopted from a student who wanted to get rid of his pets, and a midland painted
turtle and a pair of stinkpots I raised from eggs left over from my research.
5)WFB: How are you involved with amphibians and their conservation?
Dr. Finkler: I'm an ecological physiologist--I'm interested in how conditions in an animal's
environment affect its physiology. My work with amphibians deals with the
ecological physiology of reproduction. In particular, I am interested in
differences in the energetic cost of reproduction between the sexes in early
spring-breeding species and how this, in turn, influences morphological,
physiological, and demographic differences between males and females. Most of
this work has been on ambystomatid salamanders (mainly Ambystoma texanum and A.
maculatum), but a couple of years ago I expanded this work to frogs (mainly
Pseudacris crucifer and P. triseriata)
6)WFB: How did you get involved in this?
Dr. Finkler: Although I've always liked amphibians (and particularly salamanders), most of my
research in grad school centered on reptiles, but about halfway through my Ph.D.
work I had an idea to examine the energetic cost of transport in animals that
migrate as part of their reproductive ecology. Ambystomatid salamanders seemed
like a great model. Noting that gravid females have a lot of additional stuff
to lug around, I became interested not only in locomotor performance but in
metabolic rate. When I noted there was a big difference in resting metabolic
rate, I became interested in a) what accounts for this difference in metabolic
rate between the sexes and b) how does this affect stored energy reserves (fat
and glycogen) that could impact future growth, survivorship, and subsequent
reproduction.
7)WFB: What has been the most fulfilling part of working with amphibians for you?
Dr. Finkler: Probably that it's just plain fun to be running around in the woods on a warm
rainy night catching salamanders. Herping rocks! But there is also the
scientific discovery which is personally and professionally fulfilling. Lastly,
I occasionally do presentations of amphibians to school-age children, and that
is an incredible experience, because most do not realize that there are so many
different kinds of amphibians that live right in this area. When you do
presentations like that; you plant the seeds that hopefully will help these
children see the value and beauty of amphibians and of the natural world as a
whole later in life. We need that.
8)WFB: What would be the best way for others to get involved as you have?
Dr. Finkler: Get involved with nature groups like the Audubon Society, the Nature
Conservancy and more local groups like the Wildcat Guardians in north-central
Indiana. Visit your local nature centers and preserves frequently, and attend
those special events they hold. Volunteer for NAAMP surveys if you have the
opportunity. Also, learn your frog calls, and if you know people who have plots
of woodlands or wetlands, ask them if you can look around for amphibians in
there. If you would like to get involved in the scientific side of things,
contact college and university professors and volunteer--we love free labor!
9)WFB: What is the most important thing you want others to know?
Dr. Finkler: That virtually everything you do has an impact on this world and on wildlife,
and it's usually negative. Your drive to work, that mango and that box of
frozen shrimp you bought at the supermarket, that new home you are building on
the road frontage of a farm field, those leaves you burned in your back yard,
all of it. There is a cost to everything, and that cost is usually for more
than what most people think.
10)WFB: Do you have anything else you would like to share? (websites, contact info, other affiliations)
Dr. Finkler: If you would like to learn more about my work, you can visit my web site at Dr. Michael S. Finkler
Thank you so much for taking time out of your hectic schedule for this interview. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the hard work you do and have done for the better understanding and conservation of amphibians and reptiles.
Note: According to Dr. Finkler's countdown on his site, George W only has 998 days left in office.
Posted by wendellsfrogblog
at 11:55 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 27 April 2006 12:53 PM EDT
