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 and into early adulthood, but no longer.
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. It was at SLU in 2001 that I met my wife.
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 Timber 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 now-wife 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. I really enjoy teaching and coaching and may eventually find my way back to it, but it was not right for me at that time. 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. She left that job and began a self-employed business from home when we had our first child, a girl, in 2011. We welcomed the birth of our son in early 2016.
I am presently working as an Ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Wetland and Aquatic Research Center (formerly the National Wetlands Research Center) in Lafayette, LA. Here, my primary responsibility is to conduct frog surveys as part of long-term occupancy analyses in the Atchafalaya Basin of south-central Louisiana. In addition, I have assisted in similar surveys at WRP and agricultural sites in the alluvial plains of western Mississippi. We completed surveys in 2011 examining amphibian occupancy at Coldwater River National Wildlife Refuge in northern Mississippi. We have ongoing research at Big Thicket National Preserve in southeast Texas where we are examining the effects of saltwater intrusion on amphibian occupancy. We have also studied ambystomatid salamander population biology and ecology at Kisatchie National Forest in north-central Louisiana. In fall and winter of 2012 we examined impacts of road mortality on an ambystomatid salamander population along the National Park Service's Natchez Trace Parkway near Jackson, Mississippi. In 2015, we completed an initial study on Gulf Coast Waterdogs in the Florida Parishes of Louisiana. Also, in 2015, we have begun work looking at snake fungal disease in Louisiana populations. In 2016, we have continued work with SFD, expanded work on Gulf Coast Waterdogs to southwest LA, and have conducted surveillance monitoring for the salamander chytrid fungus in south-central Louisiana. In 2017, we have begun capture-mark-recapture work on treefrogs in southeast Louisiana and begun work on the population status of tiger salamanders at their last known location in Louisiana. We have also documented an established population of Cuban Treefrogs in southeast Louisiana and are probing a few lines of research at that site. In 2018, we began work on alligator snapping turtles that continues today. In 2020, we began work on Razor-backed Musk Turtles that continues today. In 2021 I also began working with colleagues on map turtles.
