In the face of weak regulations protecting critical habitats, Semlitsch has recently turned his efforts toward getting information into the hands of people who maintain and devise management strategies for large tracts of land. His goal is to supply data that might guide development or activity on land surrounding amphibian habitats.

Last fall, he and a colleague completed an exhaustive survey of 30 years worth of amphibian and reptile tracking research, covering 265 different species. They analyzed the data to determine how far the average frog and salamander traveled under average conditions. Semlitsch found that a zone or buffer of 534 feet from an average wetland would likely protect 95 percent of the species breeding there. Unfortunately, most communities in the United States only require 50- to 100-foot buffer zones.

"Conservation is riddled with watery platitudes that are relatively useless in decision-making contexts," says Skelly. "Ray is a pragmatist focused on giving people information they can use to improve the conditions for amphibians and other wildlife that use wetlands.

"I have no doubt that his work is already beginning to have an impact. I often give presentations to groups of applied wetland scientists and Ray's work is always prominently featured exactly because he provides hard numbers that appeal to people used to dealing with engineers, regulators, and the business community."

Semlitsch hopes his recent work might bridge the gap between researchers and these managers, planners and wetlands regulatory agencies. In 2003, for example, he edited Amphibian Conservation, a major collection of essays by the nation's leading applied researchers. The intent was to summarize current knowledge about amphibian biology, the threats amphibians face, ideas for conservation, and suggestions as to where new research should be directed.

The good news, he says, is that most land managers are indeed moving away from "single species conservation," and instead striving to maintain diverse flora and fauna. It is Semlitsch, perhaps more than any other researcher, who has helped them to envision this new status quo.