Kevin Clark, M.S., Director of BioServices

Kevin B. Clark, Director of Bioservices at the San Diego Natural History Museum, has over thirty years of biological experience, including research on a wide range of endangered species. He received his Master of Science degree from Arizona State University studying the effects of habitat fragmentation on lizards, birds, and mammals in the Sonoran Desert. Kevin is a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, and continues to work on the recovery of endangered species, including the California gnatcatcher, California least tern, western snowy plover, least Bell's vireo, southwestern willow flycatcher, tricolored blackbird, and western yellow-billed cuckoo. He holds permits to nest search, monitor, and band rare and endangered passerines, shorebirds, and seabirds. Kevin has also been appointed to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Recovery Teams for the endangered masked bobwhite and Sonoran pronghorn.

Kimberly Ferree, M.S., Ecologist / Ornithologist / Biostatistician

Kim has over 25 years of focused research experience, from study conception and design to fieldwork, data analysis, and reporting. She has designed and directed numerous avian field studies including life history, community, post-fire, and behavioral studies. She has federal and state permits to survey and nest monitor California Gnatcatcher, Least Bell’s Vireo, Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and has worked extensively with all four species. She has a strong statistical background in multivariate statistical analyses, utilizing software such as SYSTAT, SAS, and R.

In Memoriam: Drew Stokes, Field Biologist / Bat Specialist

The death of Drew Stokes in 2025 was a grievous loss to the Museum, California biology, and regional conservation. A renowned expert on bats, Drew specialized in surveys for bats and herpetofauna. He was highly experienced with all bat research techniques including the acoustic identification of bat echolocation calls, mist netting, roost survey techniques, and radio telemetry. Drew was a contributing author to the San Diego County Mammal Atlas and sole author of the 22 bat species accounts therein. Learn more about Drew's contributions to the field.

Daniel Donovan, M.S., Field Botanist

Daniel has been studying the flora of southern California since 2019. He has collected extensively in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange and Riverside counties and in San Diego County from the coast to the desert. His experience includes floristic surveys, rare plant surveys, and invasive plant mapping; habitat assessment for Quino Checkerspot Butterfly, Hermes Copper Butterfly, and Crotch’s Bumblebee; and vegetation sampling and mapping. He is knowledgeable in all aspects of herbarium work.

Johanna Alpert, M. N. R. M., Field Ornithologist

Johanna has over 5 years of focused avian biological research experience including fieldwork, data analysis, and report writing, with particular interests and expertise in nest monitoring, avian behavior, and banding. Johanna is state and federally permitted to conduct fieldwork for least Bell’s vireo, California gnatcatcher, and tricolored blackbird; and she has contributed to projects studying golden eagle, LeConte’s thrasher, California least tern, and snowy plover across San Diego County. Johanna’s previous research experience before working in Southern California includes nest monitoring and surveying for the charismatic Florida scrub-jay and chestnut-collared longspur. Johanna’s ornithological career has taken her to Florida and Wisconsin, Manitoba and Alberta in Canada, and Grenada of the West Indies, and finally back at The Nat in her hometown of San Diego.

Jonathan Villarreal, M.S., Mammalogist

With over 5 years of experience as a field and mammal technician working in the Baja California Peninsula, and Southern California, Jonathan’s expertise includes local reptiles, insects, plants, and mammals. Jonathan has experience with camera trap monitoring for carnivores, live trapping for rodent studies, project management, and technical writing. He has handled over 200 rodents and worked with endangered species such as Tamiasciurus mearnsi, Microtus californicus, and Dipodomys gravipes.

Ian Haliburton, M.S., Field Ornithologist

With 5 years of experience focused on avian ecology and behavior, Ian works on monitoring and research projects concerning threatened and endangered bird species such as the California gnatcatcher and least tern. He is experienced with various survey methods, nest monitoring, mist netting, and banding. Analytically, Ian has a strong background with modeling in R and with mapping and spatial analysis in ArcGIS programs. He also regularly shares his love of biodiversity through outreach, science communication, and art.

Lisa Allen, M.S., Field Ornithologist

Lisa has over 25 years of experience with focused ornithological research and environmental consulting. She has expertise in surveying, nest monitoring, mist netting, and banding of listed and threatened species including, least Bell's vireo, southwestern willow flycatcher, California gnatcatcher, and coastal cactus wren. She has assisted with range-wide occupancy and taxonomic studies of the California gnatcatcher throughout Southern California and Baja California and has conducted focused surveys and research on least Bell's vireo for over 18 years. She has experience with large complex data sets and assisted with the development of the least Bell's vireo recovery database.