Prospect Heights Natural Resources Commission
April 19, 2018 - Dr. Allison Sacerdote-Velat
"Smooth Greensnake Conservation in Northern Illinois."
Dr Sacerdote-Velat, one of the leading authorities on Green Snakes, will focus on the known threats to conservation of smooth green snakes. An Illinois species in great need of conservation she will focus on her research, their ecology, and applied conservation techniques being used to aid the persistence of the species in the region.
All programs take place at the Prospect Heights Public Library's Borland meeting room and start promptly at 7:00. Nature Speaks is free admission but registration is necessary.
Dr. Allison Sacerdote-Velat is the Curator of Herpetology at Chicago Academy of Sciences/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, conducting conservation research focused on local reptiles and amphibians like the smooth greensnake and wood frog.
Allison serves as coordinator for the Calling Frog Survey, a citizen science program monitoring amphibians in the Chicago region. She earned a B.S. in Environmental and Forest Biology from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Northern Illinois University. Her dissertation research focused on amphibian response to wetland restoration and reintroduction of wood frogs, spring peepers, and spotted salamanders in Lake County. Prior to graduate school, she worked with the National Park Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, University of Nevada, and SUNY Research Foundation, conserving reptiles, amphibians, songbirds, small mammals, bats, and mesocarnivores.
Allison was a Visiting Assistant Professor at NIU from 2009-2010, and was the Reintroduction Biologist at Lincoln Park Zoo from 2010-2016, leading regional recovery programs for Smooth Greensnakes, Meadow Jumping Mice, and several other species. Allison currently serves as Graduate Faculty Scholar at NIU, as co-chair on the advisory board for the Midwest Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC), the Joint National Steering Committee for PARC and on the National PARC Herpetofaunal Disease team.