By As a child, Bree Putman loved dinosaurs.
The fascination, she said, began with the 1993 film, Jurassic Park. Rewatching the movie over and over, it wasn’t long before a young Putman knew every dinosaur, their classifications and all of their names.
“My parents were great, they were really supportive of that,” Putman said. “They ended up buying me pet lizards and snakes – they figured that was the closest thing to a dinosaur that they could get for me.”
Putman joined Long Beach State this spring as the newest assistant professor in the biology department to teach and further her studies in herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles.
A California native from Mission Viejo, Putman went to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo for her bachelor’s degree, where she majored in biology and minored in Spanish.
Eager to work with animals, Putman joined a professor in her biology department that researched rattlesnakes.
“I thought that was really cool, and I joined her lab,” Putman said. “They are actually quite easy to work with – they are scary, but they are just one long tube. As long as you get the head under control, it’s fine.”
After completing her bachelor’s degree, Putman continued studying rattlesnakes through a joint-doctoral program in ecology at San Diego State University and the University of California, Davis.
There, Putman studied rattlesnake hunting behaviors and how they move around and interact with their environment.
For her postdoctoral fellowship with The National History Museum of Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Putman shifted away from rattlesnake biology and focused on the research she primarily does today – how animals respond to human-induced environmental change.
Following her degrees, Putman began her position as an assistant professor in the biology department at California State University, San Bernardino. She also previously worked as a lecturer at CSULB in 2018-2019, teaching vertebrate zoology and herpetology.
Bree Putman holds her find from a “herpetology field trip,” following a rainy California season on March 25, 2023. Photo courtesy of Bree Putman on X, @breeput
Now within her first month as an assistant professor at Long Beach State, Putman said she’s been welcomed with awesome and eager students, with many expressing interest in joining her research efforts at her very own “BREE Lab” on campus.
Putman’s research of how animals respond to human-induced environmental change explores three main points: how animals respond to urbanization, wildfires and the introduction of invasive species.
For urbanization, Putman said she seeks to explore how animals deal with the drastic change of the environment and wants to discover what makes some animals better than others at dealing with it.
“Long Beach is a great location because we are an urban campus… There are lizards here that we work with, and there are rattlesnakes too, so potential for that,” Putman said. “It’s centrally located near a lot of habitats, coastal ecosystems, the ocean is not far, and even desserts aren’t that far away.”
Regarding wildfires, Putman said she seeks to explore the inner play of enhanced risk following a fire, and how the climate and thermal environments of these areas change due to a lack of vegetation.
For invasive species introductions, Putman said she plans to research how non-native lizards and geckos interact with native California species.
She cites the alligator lizard and western fence lizard as two native lizards that can be found on campus, and said that invasive lizard species like green anoles, brown anoles and Italian wall lizards can be found throughout Tustin, Irvine, Orange County and San Pedro.
Eventually, Putman said the BREE Lab will have lizards for her and her research team to study with behavioral trials.
Looking towards the future, Putman said she’s happy to be teaching at CSULB and is excited to start her lab.
“I really want to do research that has a direct impact on the community,” Putman said. “Not only for wildlife conservation, but also for improving the broader community – getting the public involved, working with local organizations, having a space for students to come in, where they are from this community – just giving back.”
