Conservation Alliance Speaker Series
The aim of the speaker series is to provide a forum where land managers, scientists, educators, policy makers, planners, community members, and conservation professionals can share expertise, learn, network, and collaborate.
Brian Sullivan: Professor, School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, ASU
Human Impacts on Sonoran Desert Herpetofauna: Urban Preserves and other Central Arizona Issues
Thursday, January 15th, 2015 12-1pm
North Mountain Visitor Center
12950 N 7th St, Phoenix, AZ 85029
RSVP to Stacie Beute at sbeute@dbg.org
Dr. Brian Sullivan will recap of his team’s work on the behavior, ecology, and conservation of Sonoran Desert amphibians and reptiles, with a focus on surveys of reptiles of local urban preserves. The results of 20 year surveys will be summarized, along with other natural history observations of desert tortoises, Gila monsters and horned lizards.
Brain received his PhD from Arizona State University in 1983 and has been in residence for most years since. He served as the Editor of the Journal of Herpetology from 2000 through 2005 and is interested in the evolutionary biology of vertebrates; more specifically, the behavior, ecology, conservation, and systematics of amphibians and reptiles of arid regions, especially the southwestern United States. With his family, including wife, Elizabeth, and sons Keith, and Justin, he has examined the population status of a number of amphibians and reptiles found in urbanized desert environments. They have adopted long-term monitoring protocols for the herpetofauna of Cave Buttes and the Union Hills near Phoenix, including initiation of a telemetry study of Sonoran Desert tortoises on the urban-desert interface. He has authored over 100 articles, book reviews, technical reports, and book chapters, including many coauthored with students and colleagues in the Phoenix area.
