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Research Ranch Advisory Team

Dr. Tom Jones received his BS in Biological Sciences and MS in Zoology at Auburn University, where he worked on salamander systematics. He moved to Arizona in 1982 to attend Arizona State University where he earned a Ph.D. in Zoology (tiger salamander systematics and biogeography). He then worked for Arizona Game and Fish Department as a native fish technician for a little over a year, after which he accepted a postdoctoral research position at the University of Michigan; first in the Museum of Zoology and then in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. He also taught ecology at the University of Michigan Biological Station. Tom spent a year as a Visiting Assistant Professor at East Carolina University, before returning to Arizona to join the faculty of Grand Canyon University. He spent eleven years at GCU, where for the last several years he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology. Since the early 1990's, he has been involved with research into the population biology of lowland leopard frogs, Sonoran mud turtles, black-necked gartersnakes, bark scorpions, ajo lilies and eyelash vipers. Tom served on the board of directors for the Sonoran Audubon Society, and he currently serves on the board of directors of the Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation, which operates the Bocas del Toro Biological Station in Bocas del Toro, Panamá (where he conducted research and taught a summer course in Neotropical Herpetology for seven years). In May 2005, he joined the Arizona Game and Fish Department as the Amphibians and Reptiles Program Manager.