Public Engagement
WHO'S IN THE LAB?
Graduate Students
Sidney Bechtol
I have always loved animals and have a great interest in their little lives. Growing up, my sister and I would catch salamanders, lizards and frogs all through the Foothills of Altadena, CA which fostered my love for them. For my thesis I will study post wildfire landscapes with a focus on measuring changes in thermal environments across burned and unburned habitats and herpetofauna responses to wildfires. My work will contribute to understanding how species respond to large scale climate change events as a way to predict responses in the future.
Julia Zhou
Incoming Fall 2026. Project TBD.
Aryanna North
Incoming Fall 2026. Aryanna will collaborate with the Fresno Zoo on their Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard reintroduction program, looking at whether behavior and physiology of captive-reared offspring correlate with survival and/or reproduction after release into the wild.
Stephanie Ruck (CSUSB)
Interests include studying how environmental variables influence organismal behavior, physiology, and evolution. Previous and current experience includes working with federal agencies to collect data on herpetofauna of Southern California to better inform conservation management decisions. For my Master’s thesis, I am studying the behavioral response of lizards to wildfire cues as well as the selection pressures populations may face from such disturbances.
Undergraduate Students
Della Metanai
Away for the summer at an internship with the San Diego Zoo!
Edward Dao
Working on a species account for the San Diego Herp Atlas
Faizah Hossain
Identifying herpetofauna
on camera trap photos
Dana Shegolevsky
Will work on a project with UCLA on the effects of cats on lizard wellbeing
Jesus Soto
Helping collect microclimate data in habitats of varying fire history
Recent Graduates
Daisy Xiong, M.S. (2025)
Research: Effects of urbanization on lizard substrate use, limb and toe morphology, and locomotor performance.
Elmer Gutierrez, M.S. (2024)
Research: The effects of wildfires on predation risk, dorsal darkness, and background matching in Western Fence Lizards. Elmer is now working for the Rivers and Lands Conservancy.
Emily Urquidi, M.S. (2024)
Research: The effect of urbanization on Western Fence Lizard's (Sceloporus occidentalis) health, stress, and response to competitors. Emily is a biologist at WSP.