Tree Lizards love boulders!  See the pictures below of our study sites.  

Sycamore Creek (top two photos): Most of our field work on the tree lizards is done in the Tonto National Forest along Arizona State Route 87 about 30 miles NE of Tempe where Sycamore Creek approaches the highway.  We usually refer to this site as Sycamore Creek.  It is about 2000 ft elevation and is dominated by upper Sonoran Zone vegetation which includes Saguaro Cactus, Creosote, Burr Sage, Fairy Duster, Mesquite, Palo Verde and others.  Desert Tortoises, Peccaries, Coyotes, Rattlesnakes, Bobcats, Kit Foxes and even Gila Monsters have been seen by my laboratory here. 

Top of the World (photos 3 and 4 below): We also use a higher elevation site known to us and the locals as "Top of the World".  This site is along US highway 60 about 40 miles due east of Tempe at an elevation of 4200 ft.  This is in Oak/Juniper woodland and the vegetation inlcludes Arizona Juniper, Scrub Live Oaks, Manzanita, Cat Claw Acacia and others.  We commonly see Collared Lizards, Eastern Fence Lizards and Black-tailed Rattlesnakes here.  

Tree lizards are very abundant on these sites, approaching 200 individuals per hectare.  We have done studies involving long term observation of marked individuals in the field and also collect animals here to bring into the laboratory for laboratory studies.

Bottom two photos by D. Kabelik.

Here is a typical field behavioral trial.  The male on the left has been tethered to a fishing pole.  He is introduced to a resident male's territory.  The resident male is responding to this intruder with a fullshow display.  Note that the tethered intruder is also behaving normally and responding to the resident male even though he is tethered!  We can produce very naturalistic back and forth encounters using this technique.  Afterwards we can collect the blood or brains of the resident to see how the aggressive encounter affected him.  

Photo by D. Kabelik.

We can collect all types of tissues on animals in the field immediately after capture.  Here Dave Jennings and Eva Lacy are collecting brains, fat bodies and blood  from male tree lizards. 

Here are Stacey Weiss and Eva Lacy at the Sycamore Creek Study site.