My name is Justin Sanclemente, and I am the Jekyll Island Authority State Fellow for Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant. My love for ecology and wildlife conservation, especially that of herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) led me to start my academic career in the field of biology. I received my bachelor’s in zoology and applied conservation at West Liberty University where I researched aquatic snakes before completing my master’s thesis on Florida scrub lizards at Georgia Southern University. While finishing my work at Georgia Southern, my lab mate and close friend of mine, Michael Brennan, received the State Fellow position on Jekyll Island, and I got plenty excited hearing about the knowledge and experience he was gaining. The following summer, I applied to the same position and am getting to see what he told me about for myself, and it is so worth it.
My main duties are tracking Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes using radio telemetry as part of a long-term study on Jekyll Island. Each week, I track several individual snakes and collect data on their behavior (i.e. whether they are basking or on the move), habitat use, environmental factors, and food habits. It is very fun learning the unique quirks of each snake and, after some time, you begin to predict their behavior. The data we gather is used for a variety of research on Eastern diamondback genetics, health, and population dynamics to better understand them and inform conservation efforts for a declining species.
On top of working with rattlesnakes, I have been involved in several other tasks on Jekyll. Late winter is when prescribed burns begin. I’ve learned the conditions necessary for a fire, how they are conducted, and have gained experience doing them. In the southeast, fire maintains habitat in an earlier successional stage and opens up ground cover to facilitate a higher diversity of plants to flourish, which also benefits animals. Seeing, firsthand, the effect of fires over time is rewarding.
The conservation team also conveys many surveys for priority species on the island. I have helped with shorebird, migratory butterfly, and, perhaps my favorite, alligator surveys. With alligators, we have an ongoing mark-recapture study to manage and oversee the population on the island. The process involves going out once a month at sundown with the goal of catching and collecting data on as many alligators as we can. Sampling alligators at night is quite a thrill. At the end of working up each alligator, we give a specific notch code, which is when you remove some of the tail scutes to permanently mark an alligator for long term identification. From the notch code, we can extrapolate growth and health trends, as well as observe where that individual might travel around the area.
I am already applying to biology and wildlife conservation jobs across the country in hopes of obtaining a full-time position working in the field with herpetofauna. The work I have had the pleasure to participate in through this state fellowship has truly been a blessing, and I’m grateful for how much experience I am gaining, and I am sure it will help me achieve my goals.
Sanclemente gathers data on an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake that will inform future conservation efforts.