Chattanooga hosted an international gathering of more than 1000 scientists this past week with the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute helping to facilitate.
The 2014 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists provided opportunities to present graduate student research and hold organizational meetings for four organizations associated with the study of fish, reptiles, snakes and turtles. This was the 30th annual meeting of the American Elasmobranch Society, 94th annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, 72nd annual meeting of the Herpetologists' League, and the 57th annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (in conjunction with the International Society for the History and Bibliography of Herpetology). Biologists from around the world gathered to discuss their favorite animals; the swimmers and crawly things that inhabit our world. Conservation and the health of these species are important to biodiversity and are often a measure of the quality of the ecosystem surrounding us all.
