Long-term Studies of Herpetofauna on the Metropolitan Edge – Conservation Insights for the Sonoran Desert

Brian Sullivan
School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Arizona State University

Monday, 24 May 2021 via Zoom
See homepage to attend on the day-of

Sullivan will speak on his ongoing studies of urban impacts on the Sonoran Desert herpetofauna. He will argue that a thorough understanding of how particular species have responded to anthropogenic change requires detailed, long-term study of their respective natural history. A snake community, five lizard species and the Sonoran Desert Tortoise will be used to exemplify these perspectives.

Sullivan first searched for amphibians and reptiles in Arizona in 1970; he returned every year thereafter, and arrived for good in 1979.  He was hired as an Assistant Professor of Zoology at ASU in 1989, promoted to Full Professor of Herpetology in 2002, and served as the Editor of the Journal of Herpetology from 2000 through 2005. With students, colleagues, and his family, he has examined the behavioral ecology and conservation biology of amphibians and reptiles of the Southwest for over fifty years. Sullivan has authored roughly 200 articles, book reviews, technical reports, and book chapters, including many coauthored with students and colleagues in the Phoenix area.