Sparkman Offers California Reptile Talk

Amanda Sparkman, associate professor of biology at Westmont, explores the wide variety of California reptiles and threats to their survival in a lecture, “Imperiled Reptiles: Diversity and Conservation of California Turtles, Lizards and Snakes,” on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 3:30 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge at Westmont's Kerrwood Hall. The talk, part of the Sustainability Speaker Series, is free and open to the public.

A Westmont alumna who earned a doctorate in evolutionary biology and ecology from Iowa State, Sparkman will lead a sold-out birding trip through the Carpinteria Salt Marsh on Feb. 9.

Sparkman joined the Westmont faculty in 2012 and she conducted research on snakes and wolves at Trent University in Ontario, Canada. At Westmont, her research has focused on the evolution of California reptiles, specifically those living on the Channel Islands, and the response of garter snakes to environmental changes over the past several decades.