AgriLife Today: Hibbitts adds herpetology expertise to Texas A&M Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology
by Helen White, AgriLife Today Communication Specialist
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Toby Hibbitts ’00, Ph.D., blames his career choice on his father, but his role in herpetology, the science behind reptiles and amphibians, was a calling.
Hibbitts was recently hired as an instructional assistant professor in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology. His new role will be 75% teaching and 25% research. He will teach Fundamentals of Ecology, Conservation Biology, and Field Herpetology as well as lead a study abroad class.
He brings a wealth of experience he has amassed in several Texas A&M AgriLife positions over the past 18 years. He previously served as curator of herpetology at the Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections, BRTC; as a lecturer in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology; and as a research scientist with the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, NRI.
Hibbitts said he is excited about teaching undergraduate students and tracking their success through their time at Texas A&M University and beyond.
“I want to take them from just enjoying nature to having a deeper interest in and understanding of it,” Hibbitts said.
Herpetology: A family tradition
Hibbitts has been interested in herpetology since childhood and hopes to help his students discover a passion for the field.
He knew he would pursue a degree path in wildlife, biology and nature. Engagement in fields related to animals and their habitats is a family tradition.
“My dad was an amateur herpetologist since he was in high school,” he said. “When I was growing up, we would take trips all over the U.S. to places rich in reptile and amphibian species, camping out and looking for interesting snakes, lizards and wildlife.”
His father, Terry ’70, earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife sciences from Texas A&M, and his brother, Troy ’92, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in wildlife and fisheries sciences. They both completed research projects in herpetology for their master’s degrees — Terry from Texas A&M-Commerce and Troy from the University of Texas at Arlington — and became high school teachers in Texas. Hibbitts, his father and brother collaborated on two books — Texas Lizards and Texas Amphibians.
Hibbitts earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a wildlife ecology option from Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls; a master’s degree in wildlife and fisheries sciences from Texas A&M; and a doctorate in animal, plant and environmental science from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
“Herpetology has become my persona, my role in life,” Hibbitts said. “In essence, it’s a calling. A lot of the people who work in conservation biology or ecology are doing what they love to do anyway but are fortunate to make it their job.”
Broad expertise in the science of reptiles and amphibians
Since 2006, Hibbitts’ BRTC team cataloged 25,000 reptile and amphibian specimens. With the NRI, his herpetology research group averaged four or five publications a year and acquired grants and contracts through agencies such as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Texas State Comptroller, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Defense.
His latest research projects revolve around the conservation of Texas reptiles and amphibians.
“We do survey work and extend that to natural history and population ecology to better understand these species, their populations and what might be contributing to any declines,” Hibbitts said. “It adds value to the process to have unbiased scientists contributing to the process.”
Transformative learning experiences
Hibbitts’ experience has translated well to student development. He plans to continue his interactive, experiential-learning approach with field-based and study-abroad classes.
The Field Herpetology class uses iNaturalist, a citizen science platform that serves as a virtual nature collection app, Hibbitts said. The class then goes to three different sites, usually a long weekend each time, to learn how to observe reptiles and amphibians and find different species.
He said these popular classes often change students’ perspectives of what they want to do in ecology.
“When you go out in the field and get experience in finding and seeing them in real life, it sticks in your memory and helps you hold on to your observations to learn the species better,” Hibbitts said.
Toby Hibbitts, Ph.D., an instructional assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, holds an Ebony Keelback snake at the Texas A&M Soltice Center in Costa Rica. (Kaitlyn Forks/Texas A&M AgriLife)
Since 2008, he has taught a study abroad class in South Africa every other year. More than 100 students have learned about nature-based tourism and how governments and private landowners make a living with wildlife tourism.
He hopes his students have transformative learning experiences in the field just as he has throughout his career.
Some projects can be “magical,” he said. Since the 1990s, he has participated in a monitoring project for the New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake in the Animas Mountains in New Mexico. The colleagues on the project are now long-time friends.
“We hike in this remote mountain range, and the whole day, all you see or hear is nature,” Hibbitts said. “Field work is not always the most glamorous work. But there will be projects that really get you back into nature. That’s something I treasure.”
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Originally posted at agrilifetoday.tamu.edu.