WHAT DO FRINGE-TOED LIZARDS, UMA THURMAN AND THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT HAVE IN COMMON? By Susana Rinderle What does a six-inch lizard with fringelike scales on their hind toes have to do with the star of the "Kill Bill" films? And what can these animals teach us about plate tectonics? Apparently, a lot!
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Fringe-toed lizards, one of the more iconic species, have a story to tell not only about the desert's ecology but also its geological and hydrological history. As a graduate student in evolutionary biology at San Diego State University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institute, Andrew Gottscho, PhD., studied fringe-toed lizards in the Colorado Desert for nearly ten years, funded in part by the Howie Wier Memorial Grant from Anza-Borrego Foundation. Fringe-toed lizards are specialized for living in the wind-blown sand habitats of the Colorado Desert, so their evolution is deeply impacted by tectonic features like the San Andreas fault system, which runs throughout. Andy focused his research on the following questions: (1) How important were glacial cycles and plate tectonics in shaping the genetic patterns within this group? (2) How many species of fringe-toed lizards are
