2022 Grant Recipient
Saunders Drukker, PhD Candidate
Understanding the Acute Effects of Wildfires on Montane Rattlesnakes (Crotalus sp.) Natural History in the American Southwest.
Saunders Drukker is a Ph.D. student at Texas State University, where he researches the effects of climate change and wildfires on montane. rattlesnake ecology. His research uses analyses of populations, habitat use, and individual body condition to see how snakes are responding to these factors.
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Specifically, his work focuses on the Peloncillo Mountains of New Mexico. In 2017 these mountains were devastated by the Miller Fire, which devastated large tracts of wilderness. Saunder's work involves seeing how several species of rattlesnake, including the Rock rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus) and Blacktail rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus) populations and invidual body conditions respond in the wake of this fire.