H. Bradley Shaffer
Distinguished Professor
email: brad.shaffer@ucla.edu
phone: 310-825-3836
office: Suite 300, La Kretz Hall
website
Recent Courses
Research Interests
Evolutionary biology, ecology and conservation biology of amphibians and reptiles. My most recent research projects have focused on conservation genomics, phytogeography, and systematics of amphibians and reptiles in California., conservation and systematics of freshwater turtles and tortoises at a global level, and the application of genomics to the protection and listing of endangered California amphibians and reptiles. Recently, we have focused a great deal of ecological and genetical work on the California tiger salamander, an endangered species native to central California grassland habitat.
In addition to my appointment in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, I am also the Director of the La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science, a research center in the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES). Through the La Kretz Center I work collaboratively, including funding postdoctoral researchers and graduate students to work on applied problems in California Conservation Science.
Selected Publications
Wielstra, B., J.W. Arntzen, R.K. Butlin, J.J.C.W. van Delft, K. Vrieling & H.B. Shaffer, "Molecular toolkit and guidelines for the management of genetic pollution", Reptile, Amphibian and Fish Conservation Netherlands (RAVON), 1-25 (2018) .
Bucciarelli, G. M., D. Suh, A. Davis, D. Roberts, D. Sharpton, H. B. Shaffer, R. N. Fisher and L. B. Kats., "The relative efficiency of native and non-native aquatic species as predators of potential disease vectors: Invasive crayfish enhance the survival of mosquitoes", Conservation Biology, - (2018) .
McCartney-Melstad, E., Gidiş, M., and H.B. Shaffer, "Population genomic data reveal extreme geographic subdivision and novel conservation actions for the declining foothill yellow-legged frog", Heredity, 121 : 112-125 (2018) .
Neal, K. M., Johnson, B. B., and H. B. Shaffer, "Genetic structure and environmental niche modeling confirm two evolutionary and conservation units within the western spadefoot (Spea hammondii)", Conservation Genetics, 19 : 936-946 (2018) .
Peralta-Garcia, A., Adams, A.J., Briggs, C.J., Galina-Tessaro, P., Valdez-Villavicencio, J.H., Hollingsworth, B.D., Shaffer, H.B., and R.N. Fisher, "Occurrence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in anurans of the Mediterranean region of Baja California, Mexico", Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 127 : 193-200 (2018) .
Thomson, R.C., P. Q. Spinks, and H. B. Shaffer, "Molecular phylogeny and divergence of the Map Turtles (Emydidae: Graptemys)", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 121 : 61-70 (2018) .
Bucciarelli, G. M., Shaffer, H. B., Green, D. B., and L. B. Kats, "An amphibian chemical defense phenotype is inducible across life history stages", Nature Scientific Reports, 7 : 1-8 (2017) .
Shaffer, H.B., McCartney-Melstad, E., Near, T., Mount, G. G., and P.Q. Spinks., "Phylogenomic analyses of 539 highly informative loci dates a fully resolved time tree for the major clades of living turtles (Testudines)", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 115 : 7-15 (2017) .
Turtle Taxonomy Working Group [A.G.J. Rhodin, J.B. Iverson, R. Bour, U. Fritz, A. Georges, H.B. Shaffer, and P.P. van Dijk], "Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist and Atlas of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution, and Conservation Status (8th Ed.)", Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Pritchard, P.C.H., and Mittermeier, R.A.(Eds.), Chelonian Research Monographs 7 : 1-292 (2017) .
Wang, I.J. and H.B. Shaffer, "Population genetic and field-ecological analyses return similar estimates of dispersal over space and time in an endangered amphibian", Evolutionary Applications, Rhodin, A.G.J., Iverson, J.B., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Pritchard, P.C.H., and Mittermeier, R.A.(Eds.), 10 : 630-639 (2017) .