Charles Jacobi: Life of a Biologist

Charles Jacobi is a biologist based in Texas, United States. Connect with Charles on Instagram @charlesjacobi1 or Twitter @CharlesJacobi and his website www.cbjacobi.blogspot.com

My work as an MSc student with a Graduate Research Assistantship at Texas Tech University is centered around detection and habitat presence of the spot-tailed earless lizard (Holbrookia lacerata), as well as other desert herpetofauna. I am specifically interested in landscape distribution, detection dynamics, and how life-ecology events of secretive herpetofauna can alter encounter rates.

I first found the herpetology world as an undergraduate, mentored by Dr. Matthew Gray at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I joined the Tennessee Amphibian Monitoring Program, the only non-game event/program I had seen until this time.

During my first route of the program, I experienced my first level 3 chorus of Spring peepers and upland chorus frogs.

I couldn't believe there were so many of these tiny creatures, creating that collective sound. From that point on I knew that herpetology was something I was going to pursue. My interest in this taxa continues to grow till this day.

Since graduating from UTK, I’ve worked in the herpetofauna field in places like Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida.

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