Brandon's the best! Super cool you invited him to speak ❤️

Thanks Iroro!

Thanks Theresa and Jack!!

Impressively, most small mammal specimens (87%) were collected prior to 1980, meaning they were collected without DNA/RNA preservation as a priority.

This work lays the foundation for future fieldwork in the Madrean Sky Islands, especially from undersampled mountains.

Mexico's 25 sky islands are mostly unsampled (only the San Luis, Sierra dos Ajos, and Sierra La Mariquita have any specimens) and several of Arizona's larger sky islands have fewer than 40 specimens (Galiuros, Canelo Hills, Santa Teresas, Mules, and Dragoons).

Answer? Mostly on 5 of the 54 sky islands: 79% come from the Chiricahuas, Pinalenos, Huachucas, Animas, and Santa Catalinas.

Only 25 sky islands in the Madrean system have any recorded specimens.

Just watched "Boy and the Heron" -- legendary!!