Dr. Paul Ustach

About Dr. Paul Ustach

I am a Central Valley native; I grew up in Modesto, left California for my schooling, and now live in Stockton. If you take one of my biology courses, it is my goal for you to not only learn the main subject matter at hand, but also for you to gain an appreciation for the unique people and habitat that can be found in this region of California.Education:

• BS, University of California at Davis
• MS, The University of Texas at Arlington
  • Thesis title: Ontogenetic Change of Antipredator Behavior Over Metamorphosis in Ambystoma opacum.
• PhD, Utah State University
  • Dissertation title: Patterns and Processes of Population Differentiation in the Chuckwalla (Sauromalus obesus) in Southern Nevada.

While research is no longer my first priority, my research interests are broad and varied and can serve as an excellent means of involving students in the scientific process. What little ties I still have to research stem from my dissertation. Essentially, I studied a lizard that lives in the Mojave Desert called the Chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater =S. obesus). This work involved ecological habitat modeling using a geographic information system (GIS), quantifying lizard behavior in the field, genetic characterization of populations by means of mitochondrial DNA analysis and morphological measurements, and recording recovery rates of depleted populations. I am also a published scientific illustrator and that is presently my closest association to the world of research. I still have friends who do research, and I like to lend my drawing abilities to the process. With the help of Delta students from my classes, I have been conducting an annual survey of the native bee population on campus since 2022.
I’m very proud to have spent my summer field seasons as a National Park Ranger in Yosemite from 2010 to 2016.

Two things were important in my life growing up in the Central Valley: sports and nature. These two categories provided me an education about the wonderful diversity of people and habitat unique to California’s Great Central Valley. I grew up playing football and baseball with the grandchildren of Dust Bowl refugees. I played soccer with the children of Mexican migrant workers and kids who escaped Laos and Vietnam with only their lives. I looked for bird nests while picking peaches, clambered to observe snakes and small mammals fleeing flood irrigated orchards, swam and frogged in the canals, and made sure to avoid stinging nettles and the hobo camps in the river bottom forests when looking for snakes, alligator lizards, and birds of prey.

After graduating from U.C. Davis, I lived and worked in Washington, D. C. for a year at the Smithsonian; near Dallas, Texas for five years at the University of Texas at Arlington Natural History Collection; and rural Utah for seven years before settling down in Stockton. In between these residences I have traveled across the United States, toured Europe and Canada by backpack, conducted scientific field research in the mountains of Mexico and Guatemala, and visited national parks in Ghana as a tourist.

Growing up in the Central Valley can be quite isolating. I was determined in my younger years to expand my experiences by traveling the globe and studying its plants and animals. I believe I offer a perspective to which students can relate and be a conduit to the world outside of our wonderful valley. I love the valley and wanting to leave as a young person did not mean I would be gone forever. It has always been my goal to return to California and establish a professional career dedicated to learning and teaching about it to others. And that is exactly what I am doing now.