COMMENTARY
Citizen scientists needed in the Perimeter area
According each for analyzing their genetic make-up. to the World Participation is easy. If you spot an EastHealth Organiern Kingsnake, immediately take a photo zation, healthy and mark the exact location. If it’s alive, call communities one of the two numbers on the Facebook Carol a marketing consultant lives on the Dunwoody-Sandy Springs line rely Niemi on is wellpage. Then,who even if it’s dead, send the photo writes about people whose lives Contact worthknowingnow@gmai functioning ecoandinspire detailsothers. to one of theher twoatemails listed. systems to proSometimes the project involves rescuing vide clean air, a snake in trouble, such as happened with fresh water, Amy Gutierrez of Brookhaven, a biologist medicines and and lifelong snake fan. food security, as “I’ve always been fascinated by snakes,” well as limit disshe said. “It started with their incredible colease and stabiors and the way they’ve adapted to so many BY CAROL NIEMI lize the climate. environments, climb trees, cross deserts, A major key to swim.” a healthy ecosystem is biodiversity. But bioAn avid gardener, she had covered her diversity is disappearing at unprecedented strawberries with bird netting, unaware of rates worldwide. StudyingCarol thisNiemi process on the dangerwho it poses Upon returnis a marketing consultant lives onto thesnakes. Dunwoodyeven the smallest scale can help address the ing from a trip, she found an Eastern KingSandy Springs line and writes about people whose lives inspire problem. tangled in the netting, dehydrated and others. Contact her atsnake worthknowingnow@gmail.com. Since a wildlife habitat can be as small as near death. a neighborhood or even a backyard, picture “We called Bryan because I didn’t think I a habitat of leafy backyards where a particcould unentangle it without hurting it,” she ular species is thriving. If that neighborhood said. “I got instructions from Samantha and becomes surrounded by barriers to the anidrove it to the Chattahoochee Nature Cenmal’s movement, such as busy streets, shopter. They nursed it back to health. If I had reping centers or tall buildings, the animal will turned a day later, it would have died.” mate only with others it is already related to. Over time, the genetic diversity of its descendants will decrease until they become extirpated or extinct in that neighborhood. Their extirpation reduces the overall biodiversity of the neighborhood’s ecosystem and threatens everything else in it. Since 2019, a research project in metro Atlanta has been assessing the impact of urbanization on wildlife by tracking a particular snake to see how its survival, genetic diversity and disease status are affected. The project is led by Bryan Hudson, a PhD student in the Forestry and Environment Conservation Department at Clemson University, in partnership with the Chattahoochee Nature Center. “We chose to focus on snakes because they represent model movement-restricted Bryan Hudson with an Eastern Kingsnake. vertebrates and on the Eastern Kingsnake (Special / Samantha Kennett) in particular because of its generalist nature and positive reputation among people,” said A week later, Kennett brought it back. Hudson. Gutierrez’s two young children watched The Eastern Kingsnake is easily recogas Kennett gently pulled the snake from a nized as a large-bodied black snake, often cotton sack. Before she set it free, they all got five feet long with yellow rings covering the to pet it. entire length of its body. Known by many as If you are among the many humans who “the good snake,” it’s harmless to humans dislike snakes, a visit to the Urban Kings and impervious to the venom of native venFacebook page may change your mind. The omous snakes and in fact feeds on them. page is full of pictures of happy children and The study, called “Urban Kings: A Citiadults with Eastern Kingsnakes. zen Science Project,” uses its Urban Kings But there’s another reason for you to visit Facebook page to recruit ordinary citizens – the page. Though participation in the northcalled citizen scientists – to report Eastern ern Atlanta suburbs has been good, it has Kingsnakes in the core metro counties for been spotty in Buckhead, Brookhaven, SanHudson and his associate, Samantha Kendy Springs and Dunwoody. The project will nett, previously with the Chattahoochee Narun through the end of the year, and Hudson ture Center, to study. needs our participation. Hudson has taken many of the snakes to Ultimately, he plans to publish his findthe UGA Vet School for implantation of tiny ings for use by urban planners in designing radio transmitters that enable him to bring healthier cities, where people and animals them back to their original habitat and track will co-exist in biodiverse ecosystems where their movement. He also clips a scale from all will survive and thrive.
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16 AUGUST 2021 | REPORTER NEWSPAPERS
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