My name is Anjana (learn how to pronounce it) and I am a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Palkovacs and Garza labs at UC Santa Cruz. I currently lead a conservation project for the endangered Santa Cruz long-toed salamander. My general research interests are primarily managing for threatened herpetofauna by using various tools that work at the individual/population to landscape scale, including spatial ecology, conservation genetics, and captive breeding.
Previously, I received my PhD in the Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program at the University of Nevada, Reno from the Nussear lab. My PhD work focused on the impacts of land use and climate change on landscape level habitat and genetic connectivity for the Mojave Desert tortoise across the Mojave Desert.
I moved to the US from India for my Master's in 2013. My Master’s thesis specialized in the conservation management of the state threatened Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri). The study primarily focused on developing a species distribution model to identify novel areas appropriate for a species that is increasingly impacted by the Texas oil and gas industry. A second focus of my research was inferring population structure in the species to enable repatriation of captive tortoises.
Apart from tortoises, I have worked extensively on various projects for the endangered Houston toad (Anaxyrus houstonensis), including building habitat models, pedigree reconstruction, survivorship studies, large-scale headstarting efforts, and monitoring surveys. I have helped with mark – recapture studies for the Jollyville Plateau salamander (Eurycea tonkawae), visual encounter surveys for the Dunes sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus), as well as amphibian disease ecology and various freshwater turtle projects in Texas and New Mexico. I have also worked on an eDNA study for California red-legged frogs (Rana draytonii), and other projects on Ranids, with the US Geological Survey in Northern California.
When I'm not working I enjoy participating in mutual aid projects, blogging about scicomm, DEI issues, and zerowaste living on my instagrams (@anjanaaaa and @frangipanji). I also love growing plants, hiking, skiing, playing ultimate frisbee, and doing other outdoorsy things with my husband!
Here are some cool things I was featured in recently!
Previously, I received my PhD in the Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program at the University of Nevada, Reno from the Nussear lab. My PhD work focused on the impacts of land use and climate change on landscape level habitat and genetic connectivity for the Mojave Desert tortoise across the Mojave Desert.
I moved to the US from India for my Master's in 2013. My Master’s thesis specialized in the conservation management of the state threatened Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri). The study primarily focused on developing a species distribution model to identify novel areas appropriate for a species that is increasingly impacted by the Texas oil and gas industry. A second focus of my research was inferring population structure in the species to enable repatriation of captive tortoises.
Apart from tortoises, I have worked extensively on various projects for the endangered Houston toad (Anaxyrus houstonensis), including building habitat models, pedigree reconstruction, survivorship studies, large-scale headstarting efforts, and monitoring surveys. I have helped with mark – recapture studies for the Jollyville Plateau salamander (Eurycea tonkawae), visual encounter surveys for the Dunes sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus), as well as amphibian disease ecology and various freshwater turtle projects in Texas and New Mexico. I have also worked on an eDNA study for California red-legged frogs (Rana draytonii), and other projects on Ranids, with the US Geological Survey in Northern California.
When I'm not working I enjoy participating in mutual aid projects, blogging about scicomm, DEI issues, and zerowaste living on my instagrams (@anjanaaaa and @frangipanji). I also love growing plants, hiking, skiing, playing ultimate frisbee, and doing other outdoorsy things with my husband!
Here are some cool things I was featured in recently!
- UNR Recognitions Page
- A Book!! "Women in Field Biology: A Journey Into Nature" Available here
- A Feature on the Women in Ecology and Evolution Podcast on Grad Life here