Symposium group photo (courtesy Walter Costa Neto)
In January 2020 Rory set off to New Zealand for the 9th World Congress of Herpetology where he co-hosted and co-organized a symposium entitled “Beyond CTmax and CTmin: Advances Studying the Thermal Biology of Reptiles and Amphibians” with longtime collaborator and friend, Eric Gangloff. The meeting and symposium were both extraordinarily successful. We got to meet some remarkable new colleagues and friends, as well as catch up with folks we hadn’t seen in years. Getting to spend a couple of weeks on the South Island of New Zealand in summer wasn’t too bad either! Rory and Eric spent a few days hiking and exploring with friend/collaborator Brooke Bodensteiner. Among the highlights were getting to see some of New Zealand’s amazing and endangered wildlife, including Kea, NZ Fantails, Royal Albatross, Little blue penguins, and a Tuatara (pictured in thumbnail to this post, photo taken at Orokonui Eco Sanctuary)
One of the products of the symposium is an upcoming special issue of the Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A. Eric and Rory are currently working on putting the papers together. It looks like it is going to be a really cool set of papers and science. More soon!