The area of my expertise is 87 square kilometers
March 5, 2013 7:16 AM   Subscribe

The area of my expertise is 87 square kilometers
I study wildlife on the island of St. Martin in the Lesser Antilles. I created this web site to showcase the fauna of the island and to give people a place to download a book I wrote about it, and other research that I've done. Even though they're fascinating, little islands are often under-studied and poorly understood. I'm trying to change that for St. Martin.
Role: site creator, author
posted by snofoam (5 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite

Sorry, but maybe I should have been more clear that you can download a PDF of the first edition of the book for free on the Publications page. Aside from the reptiles and amphibians, which vary from island to island, it should be pretty useful anywhere in the Lesser Antilles or even the Caribbean in general.
posted by snofoam at 9:20 AM on March 5, 2013


Are those your photos? Nice job.
posted by Currer Belfry at 11:29 AM on March 5, 2013


No need to undermine yourself by drawing attention to your lack of degree in the "About" page. A degree is just a piece of paper, and your work stands on its own without needing to be propped up by credentials. Nice work.
posted by jlh at 4:44 PM on March 5, 2013


Thanks for the feedback. They are my photos. I'm not a pro photographer, but I have probably spent more than 2000 hours taking photos of wildlife on St. Martin so I eventually got some nice ones.

Also, it is true that I have been able to develop quite a bit of expertise over the past few years. oNe interesting thing is that field work on St. Martin and in the Caribbean in general, has been done by non-scientists from the beginning of the colonial era until today. During the colonial era, pretty much everything we learned was from a combination of clergy, military officers, physicians and others collecting specimens that would be studied by scientists in the museums of Europe and the US. Even today, the scientists working on the Caribbean often are only able to visit for short periods of time, so without the work of full-time residents outside the academic community, the perspective on wildlife in the area would be much less complete. I should have explained this, and I will.
posted by snofoam at 3:26 AM on March 6, 2013


Oooh, next time I go to SXM, will you take me birding?? So far I've seen most of the endemic birds, but would love to have a local guide.
posted by Stewriffic at 10:25 AM on March 30, 2013


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