#SlugStories Commencement 2019 Special Feature “I have been broadly working on how climate change will affect ectothermic organisms (organisms that rely on external sources to regulate temperature), using the viviparous (live young–bearing) European common lizard in France as my study species. My dissertation specifically looks at how maternal thermoregulation, offspring phenotype (i.e., viability, morphology, and other characteristics), and interactions with the parasites that infect them are impacted under different climate scenarios….The results of this dissertation will hopefully inspire further research in this field while adding to the growing body of knowledge that human-caused climate change has the power to seriously impact life on our planet.
UC Santa Cruz has been an amazing experience, and I cannot imagine a better place to have spent six years of my life. The faculty and other students in my department are excellent, and it is hard to beat going to work in a redwood fores...