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Liz Santos

Master's Student Department of Biology San Diego State University 5500 Campanile Drive San Diego, CA 92182-4614 Office: PS 142 Phone: (619) 594-0994 Email: esantos@rohan.sdsu.edu

Research Interests

My interests in plant community dynamics, native habitat restoration and the impact of invasive plant species are what first drew me to the VALE lab. Now that I'm here, my interests have expanded to include GIS and modeling techniques to assess and monitor the status of threatened and endangered plant species.

Projects

For my Master's research I am working to assess the current and long term status of the population of Torrey Pines at the Torrey Pines State Reserve in Del Mar, California. This research involves a population census that includes tree measurements along with using GPS to map every tree we can find. During a follow-up field season I will return to examine survival of seedlings and saplings from one year to the next. We believe this data will illustrate trends and spatial patterns that can inform long term monitoring and management of the Torrey Pine population.

Personal Interests

I love being outdoors and taking care of my many pets. I have my own home zoo including 2 dogs, 3 iguanas, 2 bearded dragons, 1 ball python, 2 rosy boas, 1 children's python, one western hognose snake and 1 goldfish. When I'm not caring for the zoo I try to get outdoors with my husband Louis and the dogs for hiking, backpacking, kayaking, nature photography and gardening. While I haven't done much recently, I also love travelling to far off places and hope to find time in the future for some long trips.

Here's some of the family

Spike

Jake and Abby

Kiwi

Missy

The girls

Education and Bio

2003 MA Education with Emphasis in Science, San Diego State University
1997 BA Psychology, Minor Biology, Muhlenberg College

Prior to joining the Franklin lab I explored several careers including 2 years as a social worker for troubled youth, 2 years as a full time science teacher for middle and high school science students and three years teaching science to elementary students as a science corps fellow with the PISCES project. I continue to enjoy teaching and hold a TA position for a discussion section of a 300 level Ecology course at SDSU. I also have never stopped being a student, and have taken science or other related classes every chance I get.