Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont Colleges. Electrophysiology of rattlesnake strike behavior. Carter Species identification and founder effects Dissertation defended, three presentations made at meetings. Papers in progress. We have begun a systematic study of population size, body size and genetic variability of all populations of the species.
Most populations are small, isolated, and coexist with introduced fauna.
Body size varies among populations and may be influenced by nutrition availability. Genetic variability was surveyed using 96 RAPD-PCR primers. To date no unique alleles have been found among any of the 10 sub specific populations. We have begun micro satellite DNA analysis to provide codominate measures of heterozygosity for all populations. Conservation priorities are discussed in light of our data.