Tortoise mycoplasmosis is one of the most extensively characterized infectious diseases of
chelonians. A 1989 outbreak of upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) in free-ranging …

There is an urgent need to develop effective vulnerability assessments for evaluating the
conservation status of species in a changing climate. Several new assessment approaches …

Mexico is the country with the most significant herpetofaunal diversity and endemism in
Mesoamerica. Anthropogenic threats to Mexico's reptiles are growing exponentially …

Large areas of public land are currently being permitted or evaluated for utility-scale solar
energy development (USSED) in the southwestern United States, including areas with high …

Among the principal causes producing detrimental effects on global biodiversity are
introductions of alien species. Very few attempts to control introduced amphibians and …

Decisions under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) require scientific input on the risk
that the species will become extinct. A series of critiques on the role of science in ESA …

In recent years, the number of sequences of diverse species submitted to GenBank has
grown explosively and not infrequently the data contain errors. This problem is extensively …

Populations of the Mojave Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) experienced severe
declines in abundance in the decades leading up to 1990, when the species was listed as …

Background High rates of species discovery and loss have led to the urgent need for more
rapid assessment of species diversity in the herpetofauna. DNA barcoding allows for the …

Abstract The Mojave Desert contains the hottest, driest regions in North America and is also
one of the most ecologically intact regions in the contiguous United States. However, a …