Dr. Greg Pauly: Rodenticides & Southern California Snakes

FoGP continues its Summer Lecture Series featuring Dr. Greg Pauly discussing “Beyond Raptors and Carnivores: Anticoagulant Rodenticide Exposure in Southern California Snakes.”

Rodenticides are widely used to control pest populations. The most common rodenticides are anticoagulant compounds that cause death from excessive internal bleeding, typically 4–14 days after baits are ingested. Prior research has shown that exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are a major conservation concern for raptors and mammals that prey upon or scavenge poisoned rodents.

Only a handful of studies globally have examined the effects on snakes exposed to anticoagulant rodenticides.

Through research funded in part by Friends of Griffith Park, Dr. Pauly and his team are testing for this exposure to ARs in multiple snake species across Southern California – important work that adds more names to species secondarily poisoned by ARs and highlights the need for further studies examining impacts and conservation threats of rodenticide exposure in reptiles.

Dr. Greg Pauly Bio
Dr. Pauly is Director of the Urban Nature Research Center and Curator of Herpetology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He studies the natural history, evolution, and conservation of reptiles and amphibians. Since joining the Museum in 2012, he has focused his studies on the impacts of urbanization on wildlife. Dr. Pauly is an advocate for community science and believes partnerships between professional scientists and community members can revolutionize scientific research.

He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Davis.