Charles Drost, Ph.D.

Most of his research has been on threatened or rare species on lands managed by Federal agencies in the southwest U.S., including the southern California Channel Islands and on National Park lands in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Many of the concerns of conservation and land management are focused on the population status, habitat relationships and, ultimately, long-term protection and restoration of plant and animal species. 

Charles Drost's work with the Southwest Biological Science Center and partners focuses on biological inventory studies and on the population status, population dynamics, and population genetics of a wide variety of animal species. Most of these studies are on threatened or rare species on lands managed by Federal agencies. Inventory studies have covered the southern California Channel Islands, National Park lands in the Southwest, and the southwestern states as a whole, as part of the National GAP program. 

Current studies include:

• Amphibian populations and amphibian declines, particularly the northern leopard frog, in the U.S. Southwest.
• Population ecology and population trends of the island night lizard on the California Channel Islands.
• Inventories, population status and distribution, and habitat relationships of rare land snails in the southern California coastal region and offshore islands.