In 2013, the SC Chapter decided to kick off the new year (and database contribution) with a chapter wide New Year's day field herping challenge. In the face of inclement weather, those of us in the southern reaches of our chapter headed out into the field and managed to add over 90 records to the database (including 1 new species!).
This year, I'd like to invite the SE Chapter Membership to join in on the fun and see if we can't really up our New Year's day contribution. We'll follow the scoring format included below (designed by Chrish prior to last year's contest) and see which chapter can claim bragging rights when January 2 rolls around.
Be sure to chime in below, if you're interested in taking part. Good luck to everyone who takes part!
Chris Williams
SC Chapter VP
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Here's the 2014 scorecard for those who want to keep track as people begin submitting records:
SC Chapter
http://www.naherp.com/reports/national- ... 2014-01-01
SE Chapter
http://www.naherp.com/reports/national- ... 2014-01-01
And Chrish’s scoring format:
Three ways to win:
(a) Overall Points Winner (see scoring system below)
(b) Most Taxa (total species observed)
(c) Most Records (total records submitted to NAHERP)
Overall Points Scoring System:
(a) 10 points/taxon/county (species level)
(b) 1 point/vouchered record (limit 10/species/county)
Here's an example of how scoring will work (provided by chrish)
So if contestant A stays in their home county and enters 4 taxa:
25 Acris crepitans = 10 points + 10 (maxed out the number of points for Acris in one county)
5 Ambystoma texanum = 10 points + 5
20 Trachemys = 10 points + 10 (again maxed out)
5 Alligators = 10 points + 5
10 Incilius nebulifer = 10 points + 10
They get 40 points for the records (only the first 10 Acris and Trachemys count), 50 points for five taxa for a total of 90 points.
If contestant B enters 7 taxa from one one county:
2 Acris = 10 points + 2
3 Hyla versicolor = 10 points + 3
3 Incilius nebulifer = 10 points + 3
2 Lithobates clamitans = 10 points + 2
3 Eurycea quadrigittata = 10 points + 3
5 Pseudacris fouquettei = 10 points + 5
2 Nerodia fasciata = 10 points + 2
They get 20 points for the records but another 70 points for the for the 7 taxa for a total of 90 points.
Contestant C find four taxa in two counties and enters:
1 Hyla chrysoscelis (county 1) = 10 points + 1
2 Hyla chrysoscelis (county 2) = 10 points + 2
1 Acris crepitans (county 1) = 10 points + 1
1 Acris crepitans (county 2) = 10 points + 1
2 Alligator (county 1) = 10 points + 2
1 Alligator (county 2) = 10 points + 1
1 Incilius nebulifer (county 1) = 10 points + 1
1 Incilius nebulifer (county 2) = 10 points + 1
Person C gets 10 points for their records plus 80 points for having 8 different "county-taxa", so they end up with 90 points.