Proposal to USGS

Cooperative Agreement with University of Georgia

**Scientific Oversight and Development of the North** **American**
**Reporting** **Center** **for** **Amphibian** **Malformations**
(**NARCAM**)

October 19, 2005

**Submitted by:**

Name: J. Whitfield Gibbons, Ph.D.

Title: Professor of Ecology, University of Georgia

Head, SREL Environmental Outreach and Education Program

> Savannah River Ecology Lab, Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802
>
> office 803 725-5852 Fax 803 725-3309 e-mail <gibbons@srel.edu>

Name: Brian D. Todd

> Title: Ecology Doctoral Student,
>
> University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Lab,
>
> office 803 725-0422 Fax 803 725-3309 e-mail <todd@srel.edu>

Name: Judith L. Greene

> Title: Senior Research Coordinator
>
> University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Lab,
>
> office 803 725-5988 Fax 803 725-3309 e-mail <jgreene@srel.edu>

**Budget Estimate and Time Period (**November 1, 2005 - September 30,
2008)

> November 1, 2005 - October 31, 2006 - \$60,023
>
> November 1, 2006 - October 31, 2007 - \$73,870
>
> November 1, 2007 - September 30, 2008 - \$83,875

**Overview**:

**SREL Role**

We propose to continue the current and ongoing activities of the
Savannah River Ecology Lab (SREL) that involve maintenance of the NARCAM
(North American Reporting Center for Amphibian Malformations) web site
and scientific oversight of and responses to submitted records. We also
propose to increase the utility of NARCAM through involvement with PARC
(Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation), directed educational
efforts, and interactions with personnel at national parks, state parks,
national wildlife refuges, museums, and academic institutions.

SREL has an instrumental role in the technical advisement of the site
regarding its usability, format, and structure. We identify critical
needs of the scientific community and general public that must be met to
optimize the usefulness of the NARCAM site.

**Deliverables - Ongoing**

1A) To assure NARCAM\'s effectiveness, SREL will collaborate with USGS
to delineate key features used for reporting amphibian malformations,
ways to store, access and search past amphibian malformations records,
and provide assistance in the design of mapping capabilities of
amphibian malformations to inform the public and researchers of known
occurrences. This is an ongoing process that continues to shape the
NARCAM site.

1B) SREL will continue to serve as scientific reviewers for all incoming
amphibian malformation reports. We examine and evaluate each new report
and contact report authors when necessary to confirm authenticity or
clarify the report contents. This critical activity ensures NARCAM's
continued role as a source for credible data on malformations
occurrences.

1C) SREL will continue to serve as reviewers for all malformation
information individually tailored for the site, including background
information, relevant articles and instructional summaries.

FY2006 -- Complete initial review of malformation literature to place on
site (1C). Continue activities 1A and 1B.

FY2007 -- Complete final revisions of site literature (1C). Continue
activities 1A and 1B.

FY2008 -- Continue activities 1A and 1B. Amend site literature as new
information becomes available (1C).

**Deliverables - New**

2\) An implicit goal of the NARCAM site is to inform and involve the
broadest audience possible. To this end, we propose traveling to two
national meetings to deliver oral presentations publicizing NARCAM and
demonstrating its use as a resource. The first national meeting would
capitalize on SREL's relationship with the group Partners in Amphibian
and Reptile Conservation (PARC). PARC has a broad membership base
comprising members of the general public and private industry, students,
teachers, academic, state and federal agency employees, and many other
professionals. We will also coordinate with PARC to publicize the NARCAM
product by linking from their amphibian conservation website. We will
also present an oral paper at the international Joint Meeting of
Ichthyologists and Herpetologists presenting an overview of what kind of
research is possible with the NARCAM database. This meeting is attended
by academic researchers, professors, and students. Presenting NARCAM to
them will increase the visibility of the resource and will also allow us
to solicit feedback from an audience that is likely to use the resource
so we can continue to improve NARCAM's functionality.

FY2006 -- Travel to PARC National meeting and present NARCAM overview.
Develop NARCAM summary and hotlink to publicize on PARC website.

FY2007 -- Travel to Joint meeting and present oral paper

FY2008 -- Travel to PARC National meeting and to demonstrate enhanced
site to participants; travel to museum collections within the state of
Georgia to review collections and acquire additional data for pilot
project

3\) We propose to enhance NARCAM by generating an instructional package
for biology teachers in primary and secondary schools. Students from a
biology class were instrumental in bringing the issue of frog
malformations to national attention when a group of Minnesota
schoolchildren identified several deformed frogs in the summer of 1995.
Subsequently, the issue of amphibian malformations and the investigative
tale that accompanies it provide an engaging way of educating students
about the problem, its proposed causes, and its environmental relevance.
The instructional package will provide a historical overview of
amphibian malformations, present the proposed causes of malformations,
and contain interactive homework questions that will direct students to
the NARCAM site for participatory output in order to answer questions
about malformation occurrences in their area. Teachers will be
encouraged to lead classes in search of amphibian malformations in
outdoor activities and submit any malformation reports as a group
activity. SREL has a long-standing outreach program that serves primary
and secondary schools in the southeastern U.S. through hands-on programs
with students and teacher workshops, and is therefore well-suited for
the development of a NARCAM instructional package.

FY2006 -- Complete draft of instructional package by coordinating with
SREL's on-site outreach educators.

FY2007 -- Solicit feedback from teachers during SREL-hosted regional
teacher workshops.

FY2008 -- Finish revisions of instructional package and host on NBII
website. Publicize product and allow downloading of packages for use as
classroom activity.

4\) We propose to develop a downloadable brochure (PDF) to be hosted on
the NBII NARCAM website describing NARCAM and soliciting reports to the
database. The intended audience will be national park and wildlife
refuge employees, zoological museums, regional herpetological societies,
and state park employees as well as the general public. The goal is to
increase the awareness of the program and the use of the website as a
reporting center.

FY2006 -- Design brochure.

FY2007 -- Complete draft of brochure.

FY2008 -- Begin hosting brochure online at NBII's NARCAM website.

5\) We propose to increase the functionality of the NARCAM malformation
database by contacting or visiting museums and zoological institutions
to locate historic malformation occurrences that are currently
unreported and adding them to the malformation database. We will
accomplish this by developing a working strategy for the state of
Georgia and then gauging its effectiveness for extrapolation to other
states and regions. Our strategy will be: i) to identify all
herpetological museum collections within the state, ii) to contact
curators and directors of these collections to solicit their help in
finding historic amphibian malformations, and iii) to use herpetological
societies and university students to review museum specimens for
malformations. We will coordinate the efforts and all subsequent data
entry of reports.

FY2006 -- We will examine all herpetological collections in the state of
Georgia to identify unreported historic malformations among preserved
specimens.

FY2007 -- Deadline for data entry of all findings from statewide program
in Georgia

FY2008 -- Complete project summary and plan of action for adapting
theses methods to other states/regions with the goal of increasing the
size and scope of the NARCAM database.

**USGS Role**

1\. USGS hosts the NARCAM Web site as part of the larger National
Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Web site. USGS will
continue to provide hosting, Web development, and technical expertise
for the NARCAM Web site and the database of submitted malformations
reports.

2\. USGS continues to work collaboratively with SREL to increase data
and information on malformations phenomena, including development of
mapping applications to illustrate graphically the presence and extent
of reported malformations.

3\. USGS is responsible for maintaining NARCAM's OMB certification for
collection of voluntary reports of malformations observed by the public.

**Proposed Budget**

> **Deliverable PROJECT   FY2006 FY2007 FY2008** **       **
>
> **1 NARCAM** Personnel
>
> **WEBSITE/** Graduate Assistants 11870 15213 19255
>
> **REVIEWS** Travel 0 0 0
>
> Equipment/Supplies 0 600 1400
>
> **2 PRESENTATIONS** Personnel
>
> Graduate Assistants 2000 2400 2800
>
> Travel 2800 3600 4400
>
> Equipment/Supplies 0 0 0
>
> **3 INSTRUCTIONAL** Personnel
>
> **PACKAGES** Graduate Assistants 2000 2400 2800
>
> Research Coordinator 2500 4000 3000
>
> Travel 0 0 0
>
> Equipment/Supplies 3600 2400 1800
>
> **4 DOWNLOADABLE** Personnel
>
> **BROCHURES** Graduate Assistants 2000 2400 2600
>
> Research Coordinator 3500 3000 3200
>
> Travel 0 0 0
>
> Equipment/Supplies 1200 2200 3000
>
> **5 DATABASE -** Personnel
>
> **CONTACTS -** Graduate Assistants 2000 2400 2600
>
> **MUSEUMS,** Research Coordinator 3500 4000 3000
>
> **HERP SOCIETIES** Clerical 2000 2600 4000
>
> Travel 2700 3300 4000
>
> Equipment/Supplies 0 900 1000
>
> **Staff Benefits** 3190 3796 3832
>
> **SREL Direct** 8972 11042 12537
>
> **UGA Indirect** 6191 7619 8651
>
> **GRAND TOTAL 60,023 73,870 83,875**