RS Newton:

I concur with your assessment 100% . 'Climbing on the band-wagon' is my way of viewing how so many individuals in biological circles fail to examine issues critically but blindly accept what appears to be authoritative sources.



In my view, one clear example of this is how many have adopted the notion that road mortality results in serious, negative impacts on snake populations. This does not make sense from my understanding of population biology, from some anecdotal and doucmented evidence, and from personal field experience. I finally obtained a reprint of a published account (Rosen and Lowe) that had been cited a by others as proof. Although it was a very nice study, the data (and absence of certain data) not only didn't confirm the author's main thesis of serious, negative impact, but suggested just the opposite. I am just an amateur herpetologist with a BS degree in Wildlife Science and I ask myself how so many others cannot see the obvious????



Richard F. Hoyer

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