Hello. My name is Brad Michael Glorioso, although I am more commonly known by my nickname since birth, Bones. I was born and raised in the New Orleans area. Since early childhood I had a fascination with animals. In 6th grade I developed a particular interest in reptiles and amphibians, and knew I wanted to work with these magnificent creatures as my job someday. Until I graduated from high school my experience with reptiles and amphibians consisted of the animals I could find in and around my hometown, which was crisscrossed with drainage canals. I also kept amphibians and reptiles as pets as a young boy until just recently.
I went to Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU) in Hammond, LA, as an undergraduate. It was there that I first was involved in studying these creatures from a more scientific perspective. I assisted the late Joe Ramspott, in his graduate work in the Manchac Wildlife Management Area. In addition to updating the reptile and amphibian species list for the area, he was examining amphibian recruitment along transects in open marsh versus a more pristine marsh. The work was very fun, especially the Turtle Cove area and the nighttime surveys wading waist to chest deep water on Alligator Island.
After SLU, I went on to further my education at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where I had my hand in many projects. My Master's thesis was on a stinkpot turtle population in a roadside slough at Reelfoot Lake. At Reelfoot, I also trapped the main lake for turtles. I was part of a group of people who took part in various projects including: radio-tracking neonate rattlesnakes to determine what cues they were using to find the hibernaculum, examining interspecific interactions in banded sculpin, and assessing the status, distribution, and reproduction of the streamside salamander. At MTSU, I assisted my friends and colleagues, Matt Niemiller and Richie Wyckoff, on their Master's field work with the Tennessee cave salamander and ambystomatid salamanders, respectively. I also worked on both a reptile and amphibian as well as a fish survey of the Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, TN.
After MTSU, my fiance and I moved to southeast Missouri in the hopes of landing a good wildlife job. That did not happen initially, and I ended up teaching junior high science and coaching baseball and basketball for one year. After the school year, I got on with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as a seasonal researcher. My primary job was to study and report on the turtle assemblage and population structure, size, and stability of turtles at Big Oak Tree State Park. In addition, I trapped turtles at several other DNR state parks and historic sites in order to contribute to the species list of the respective sites.
After the DNR job ended I began looking for a job back in my home state of Louisiana. I was fortunate to apply and earn a job as a federal contractor for IAP World Services, Inc. My wife, a graphic designer, was also able to find a good job she enjoyed immediately. Anyway, I am presently working at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, LA. Here, my primary responsibility is to conduct frog surveys in the Atchafalaya Basin. In addition, I have assisted in similar surveys at WRP and agricultural sites in the alluvial plains of western Mississippi. These are both visual encounter and calling surveys done at the same time in overnight hours. We are beginning some pilot work to assess occupancy of salamanders in Kisatchie National Forest in central and northern Louisiana.