Martínez del Rio is a functional ecologist that uses pollination and seed-disperser systems as models to ask general ecological questions. Current research projects include: the use stable isotopes to study migrant pollinators and seed dispersers, the traits that allow nectar-feeding animals to subsist on a sugary and watery diet, and seed dispersal and the spatial ecology of desert mistletoes. More details on Martínez del Rio’s research can be found at his web site: www.uwyo.edu/cmdelrio/main.html

Selected recent publications:

McWhorter, T., C. Martínez del Rio, and B. Pinshow. 2002 Adaptive regulation of water absorption by Palestine sunbirds: Adaptive regulation or a function of sugar absorption? Journal of Experimental Biology (in press).

Wolf, B. O., J. Babson, and C. Martínez del Rio. 2002. Saguaros, doves, and isotopes: differential water and carbon acquisition by animals feeding on a single resource. Ecology 83(3): 1286-1293.

Wolf, B. O. and C. Martínez del Rio. 2000. Use of saguaro fruit by White-winged doves: isotopic evidence of a tight ecological association. Oecologia 124: 536-543.

Schondube, J. E. and C. Martínez del Rio. 2002 A bill with a hook: experimental evidence of a tradeoff in the morphology of flowerpiercers (in press). Proceedings of The Royal Society of London B.

Martinez del Rio.2002. Where do fruit-eating birds deposit mistletoe seeds? Seed deposition patterns and an experiment. Ecology (in press).

Aukema, J. and C. Martínez del Rio. 2002. Inter- and intraspecific variation in mistletoe seed deposition. Ecogeography 25(2): 139-144.

Aukema, J. and C. Martínez del Rio.2002. Mistletoes as parasites and seed-dispersing birds as disease vectors: current understanding, challenges, and opportunities. Pages 99-110 in Levey, D. J., Silva, W. R., and M. Galetti. (eds.)Seed Dispersal and Frugivory: Ecology, Evolution and Conservation. CABI International Press. Oxfordshire. UK.

Wolf, B. and C. Martínez del Rio. 2002. Flight path: Saguaro-feeding by desert birds. Birding. August 324-325. Martínez del Rio, C. 2001. On the travels and tribulations of two migrant pollinators: long-nosed bats and desert white-winged doves. Wild Earth 11: 14-21.