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BRIAN S. METTS

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
 Drawer E,  Aiken, SC 29802
Phone: (803) 725-5988
Fax: (803) 725-3309
E-Mail: metts@srel.edu

Education

  • Pursuing Ph.D., Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 2003 - Present        
  • M.S., Forest Ecology, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, 1999
  • B.S., Biology, University of South Carolina – Aiken, 1995

Employment

·   1999-present, Research technician, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory

    • Conduct scientific research primarily on amphibians and reptiles, publish peer reviewed scientific papers and present results at regional meetings. Research includes: (A) Project coordinator of animal surveys in the Sumter National Forest of South Carolina. (B) Daily monitoring of Rainbow Bay a 26+ year amphibian study. (C) Project coordinator for population surveys of a South Carolina State Endangered Species, southern zigzag salamander. (D) Conducted an experiment to determine the effects of a common pesticide on larval salamanders. (E) Interim project coordinator for the Southeastern Coastal Network Herpetofaunal Inventory study which took inventory of amphibian and reptile populations in 16 National Parks in the Southeast. (F) Sampled aquatic animals living in golf course wetlands to determine the role temporary wetlands play on golf courses. (G) Conducted surveys of gopher tortoises and tortoise burrows. (H) Radio-tracked gopher tortoises, tiger salamanders, and hognose snakes. (I) Conducted studies on spotted salamanders reproduction.
    • Supervise research technicians, undergraduate students, and assist graduate students with research.
    • Conduct vegetation surveys
    • Maintain vehicles and boats.

      · 1997-1999, Graduate research assistant, Clemson University 
(Supervisor - J. Drew Lanham).

    • Determined the influence of beaver on animal communities residing in non-impounded streams and beaver pounds.
    • Supervised undergraduate students working on project, and assisted other graduate students with their research.
    • Employed numerous trapping techniques to capture animals, marked animals, and entered data.
    • Conducted vegetation surveys.
    • Statistically compared data collected from beaver impounded streams to free-flowing streams and the peripheral forest habitats of each.

      · 8/96-8/97, Research Technician, Clemson University and SREL (Supervisor- Kevin Russell).

    • Assisted in collection of animals for the International Paper Pee Dee project, which focused on the effects of timber harvesting on amphibian and reptile populations in isolated wetlands on the coastal plain of South Carolina.
    • Checked drift fences, cover boards, and minnow traps.
    • Additional duties included installation and maintenance of traps, pit-tagging snakes, and marking turtles.

      · 5/95-8/97, Field assistant, University SC, Aiken and Clemson University (Supervisor- Hugh Hanlin).

    • Assisted in the collection of animals in a project investigating the impact of a thermally polluted stream, used to cool a nuclear reactor, on plant and animal communities five years after the reactor was shut down.
    • Helped to set up, construct, and conduct a research project investigating the effects of canopy gaps, created by certain forestry practices, on animal populations.

Publications

  • Metts, B.S., W.A. Hopkins, and J.P. Nestor. 2005. Interaction of an insecticide with larval density and pond-breeding salamanders ( Ambystoma ). Freshwater Biology 50:685-695.
  • D.E. Scott, B.S. Metts, and J.W. Gibbons. 2003. Seasonal wetlands and golf courses. Golf Course Management. November: 85-89.
  • Metts, B.S ., J.D. Lanham, and K.R. Russell. 2001. Evaluation of Herpetofaunal Communities on Upland Streams and Beaver-Impounded Streams in the Upper Piedmont of South Carolina. American Midland Naturalist 145(1): 54-65.
  • Metts, B.S . 2001. Ambystoma maculatum Reproduction. Herpetological Review 32(2): 98.
  • Gibbons, J.W., D.E. Scott, T.J. Ryan, K.A. Buhlmann, T.D. Tuberville, B.S. Metts , J.L. Greene, T. Mills, Y. Leiden, S. Poppy, and C.T. Winne. 2000. The Global Decline of Reptiles, Déjà vu Amphibians. BioScience 50:653-666.
  • Russell, K.R., C.E. Moorman, J.K. Edwards, B.S. Metts , and D.C. Guynn, Jr. 1999. Amphibian and reptile community associations with beaver ( Castor canadensis ) ponds and unimpounded streams in the Piedmont of South Carolina. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 14: 149-158.

In Press 

  • Metts, B.S . and J.P. Nestor. 2005. Amphibian and reptile diversity in the Sumter National Forest of South Carolina. Journal of the North Carolina Scientific Society 3(14).
  • Semlitsch, R.D., B.S. Metts , and J.L. Greene. Terrestrial migration and home range habitat use by eastern tiger salamanders, Ambystoma tigrinum, in South Carolina. (Copeia)

In Prep 

  • Gibbons et. al. Metts , B.S. et. al. How Productive Can an Isolated Wetland Be? Remarkable Amphibian Biomass and Abundance.
  • Pechmann, J.H.K., D.E. Scott, J.W. Gibbons, J.L. Greene, B.S. Metts , and P.M. Dixon. Updated amphibian population trends at Rainbow Bay, South Carolina: Natural and human influences.
  • Rania-Ganser, L., D. E. Scott, and B. S. Metts . Skeletochronology of the phalanges of a population of the marbled salamander.
  • Metts , B.S., J.L. Greene, and J.W. Gibbons. Life history characteristics of the common musk turtle ( Sternotherus odoratus ) in South Carolina.
  • Metts , B.S. and D.E. Scott. Maximum age and size of select amphibian species in South Carolina.

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