Richard Seigel

Research Interests

My basic research philosophy is that one cannot be a good conservation biologist without first being a strong population ecologist, and, conversely, that an interest in conservation biology is a ethical requirement of anyone calling themselves a population ecologist. Thus, research in my lab is oriented in two main directions; studies on the population ecology of amphibians and reptiles (using both field and experimental approaches) and studies on the conservation biology of amphibians and reptiles, which is almost exclusively field-oriented. My selection and recruitment of graduate students follows these approaches; of the 35 students I have mentored to date, about half have focused on population ecology and half on conservation biology. Students interested in either aspect of herpetology are welcome to apply to work in my lab.

Recent Publications

Maerz, J. C., R. A. Seigel, and B. A. Crawford. 2019. Terrapin conservation in terrestrial habitats: Mitigating habitat loss, road mortality, and subsidized predators. In: W. Roosenburg and V. Kennedy (editors): Ecology and Conservation of the Diamondback Terrapin. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Martin, S. A. R. M. Rautsaw, M. R. Bolt, C.  L. Parkinson, and R. A. Seigel. 2018. Estimating the response of wildlife communities to coastal dune construction.  Ocean and Coastal Management 161:31-36.

Howell, H. J. and R. A. Seigel. 2018. An examination of the accuracy of using plastral scute rings to age spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata). Chelonian Conservation Biology 17:104-108.

Byer, N. W., B. N. Reid, R. A. Seigel, and M. Z. Peery. 2018. Applying lessons from avian ecology to herpetological research: Techniques for analyzing nest survival due to predation. Herpetological Conservation 13:517–532.

Byer, N. W., S. A. Smith, and R. A. Seigel. 2018. Microgeographic variation in Bog Turtle nesting ecology. Journal of Herpetology 52:228-233.

Rautsaw, R. M. S. A. Martin, K. Lanctot, B. A. Vincent, M. R. Bolt, R. A. Seigel, and C. L. Parkinson. 2018. On the road again: Assessing the use of roadsides as wildlife corridors for Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus). Journal of Herpetology 52: 136–144.

Rautsaw, R. M., S. A. Martin, B. A. Vincent,  K. Lanctot, M. R. Bolt, R. A. Seigel, and C. L Parkinson. 2018. Stopped dead in their tracks: the impact of railways on Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polypemus) movement and behavior. Copeia 106:135-143.

Cain, P. W., M. D. Cross, and R. A. Seigel. 2017. Field data and stakeholders: Regulating the commercial harvest of snapping turtles in Maryland. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 16:229-235.

Martin, S. A., R. R. M. Rautsaw, F. Robb, R. Bolt, C. Parkinson, and R. A. Seigel. 2017. Set AHDriFT: Applying game cameras to drift fences for surveying herpetofauna and small mammals. Wildlife Society Bulletin 41:804-809.

Seigel, R. A., W. Saffell, C. Patterson, B. Durkin, S.  Martin, M. Lawrance and A. Savage. 2017. Compensatory Damages: Wetland creation could lead to the spread of disease. Roads and Bridges 2017: 24-29. (not peer-reviewed).

Martin, S. A., R. M. Rautsaw, R. Bolt, C. L. Parkinson, and R. A. Seigel. 2017. Adapting coastal management to climate change: Mitigating our shrinking shorelines. Journal of Wildlife Management 81:982-989

Byer, N. W., S. A. Smith, and R. A. Seigel. 2017. Effects of site, year, and estimator choice on home ranges of Bog Turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) in Maryland. Journal of Herpetology 51:68-72.

Seigel, R. A. 2016. The future of publishing herpetological research: peer review, ‘‘pre-publications’’, and openness and transparency of data. Journal of Herpetology 50:497-501. 

Howell, H. J., D. T. McKnight, and R. A. Seigel. 2016. A novel method of collecting Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata). Herpetological Review 47:202-205

Courses Taught

• Wildlife Biology (BIOL 444): Spring