27th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, March 22-24, 2002
Abstracts

Trends In Desert Tortoise Research: DTC Proceedings 1976-2001

Jill S. Heaton, Aninka Martek*, Richard Inman, and Jacqueline Lesch
Redlands Institute, University of Redlands, 1200 E. Colton Ave., Redlands, CA 92373-0999

For the last 25 years a representative portion of desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) research has been reflected in Desert Tortoise Council symposiums. Some individuals and agencies have been active in the Symposia for the full 25 years, while others have come and gone. Regardless of the players, the symposia has evolved over the years to incorporate new disciplines and experts as science and our understanding of desert tortoise biology has grown. With 25 years of consistent and repeated study by dedicated, world-class scientists, analysis of the symposia proceedings can provide insight into topical, temporal, and spatial trends in desert tortoise research. The author, affiliation, agency, paper title, and abstract were compared across the 25-year history of the symposia (1976-2001). Specifically, the abstracts were analyzed to identify research trends in relation to major environmental regulations (i.e. listing of the desert tortoise), research discoveries (i.e. discovery of URTD in wild populations), and agency affiliation. In addition, where possible, we have investigated spatial relationships and trends in agency and individual research, as well as changes through time. The results of our analyses are presented textually and graphically and will be made available on-line at a later date.