Icebreaker Speaker

Lawrence L. C. Jones, MSc, has worked as a biologist in California, the Pacific Northwest, and Arizona, primarily in the research and management branches of federal agencies. After 30 years in the federal government, he retired in Tucson, Arizona. After retirement he continued to conduct research on lizards, including a 12-year monitoring project of a roadside lizard community in southeastern Arizona, plus as a side project, he did a study on the ecology of scorpions near Tucson. More recently, he just finished four years of field work on lizards of Saguaro National Park and Ironwood Forest, including a radio-telemetry study on the natural history of Dipsosaurus dorsalis and Gambelia wislizenii, with an emphasis on surface activity, roadside ecology, and climate change. He currently works as needed as a Reserve Keeper in the Herpetology department of a local zoo. Larry has published over 100 papers, chapters, and books on various natural history topics. His books from the Northwest include Amphibians of Washington and Oregon and Amphibians of the Pacific Northwest. In the Southwest, he is known for Lizards of the American Southwest and Habitat Management Guidelines for Amphibians and Reptiles of the Southwestern United States. His most recent book, the award-winning Venomous Animals of the United States and Canada, is a 1,018-page tome (including the supplemental references) that covers all venomous taxa north of Mexico. He is also working on Lizards of Arizona, both as an editor and contributor for accounts of D. dorsalis, G. wislizenii, and conservation and climate change.