Welcome to The Lab! We are situated in the Evolutionary Biology Program within the Biology Department at San Diego State University.
We study the ecology, evolution, physiology, and behavior of reptiles on islands and in cities. We use a combination of large-scale field studies, behavioral experiments, genetics and genomics, and comparative methods to understand how organisms respond to human-induced environmental change such as climate change and urbanization.
Our fieldwork largely takes places in Mediterranean climates. We have ongoing projects in San Diego, Los Angeles, Taormina Italy, and all over Greece. The Greek Cycladic islands have an ancient history of human impacts, from agriculture to urbanization. Team Savres and I use this special archipelago to understand how life evolves in when isolated in different environmental and ecological contexts.
