Publications
Warne, R.W., and E.L. Charnov. (In Review). Reproductive allometry and the size-number trade-off in lizards. American Naturalist. (email rwarne@unm.edu for a copy of this manuscript)
Warne, R.W., A.D. Pershall, and B.O. Wolf. (In Review). Linking precipitation and C3 - C4 primary production to resource dynamics in higher trophic level consumers. Ecology. (email rwarne@unm.edu for a copy of this manuscript)
Manuscripts in preparation
Warne, R.W., H. Lease, and B.O. Wolf. (In Prep). Seasonal and trophic variation in d13C and d15N of a Sonoran Desert macro-invertebrate food web.
Wolf, B.O., R.W. Warne, C. Mathiasen; and A. McKechnie. (In Prep). Water and energy balance of a desert bird community: The importance of columnar cacti.
Dissertation research in progress
Effects of productivity and nutrient availability in C3 and C4 plants on the abundance, size and macronutrient composition of arthropods. Controlled experiments have shown that the differing nutrient qualities of C3 and C4 plants dramamtically impact the growth rate, adult size and nutrient composition of grasshoppers.Using stable isotopes and compositional analysis, this study will be the first field based test examining the impacts that plant nutrient quality may have on herbivorous consumers.
Prey quality effects on the allocation strategies to reproduction in a lizard: Stable isotope analysis of capital vs. income breeding. I am manipulating the fat store and dietary carbon isotope values of prairie lizards (Sceloporus undulatus consubrinus) to examine how dietary quality may impact the degree to which stored resources are utilized for egg development. Through carbon isotope analysis of body and egg tissues I am quantifying the sources (stored vs. dietary) used to provision eggs. Also with an ultrasound imaging device I am tracking the rate at which eggs are developed.
Nutrient dynamics in a desert food web: Linking nutrient availability to the allocation strategies of a lizard community. This project is a culmination of the above studies, in which I am using natural seasonal variation in the carbon isotope values of lizard fat stores and diet to examine capital vs. income breeding across a number of lizard species.
Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope turnover in the tissues of lizards. In this study we are examining the isotope turnover rates and diet to tissue fractionation factors in lizards. We are comparing these dynamics in two species of differing body size, the prairie lizard (S. u. consubrinus) and the collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris); as well as in growing vs. adult prairie lizards. Lastly using induced tail autotomy, we are also exmining routing to regrowth.
