To curb accelerated losses of biological diversity and interruptions in the natural state of ecological communities, scientists must understand the factors that control the behavior and distribution of species over multiple spatial and temporal scales. The Newsome Lab uses biochemical proxies to study the flow of energy within and among ecological communities to address these topics. Read more about some of our current projects below:
Grants
2024 - National Science Foundation, DEB–Organism Response to Climate Change ($1,720,846; in revision)
“Evaluating the impact of precipitation variability on foraging and fitness in desert rodents"
Lead PI with Drs. Tyler Kartzinel, Philip Manlick, Amy Trowbridge, and Justin Yeakel
2024 - National Science Foundation, IOS–Integrative Ecological Physiology ($1,537,961; in revision)
“Linking gut microbiota to host nutrient dynamics, immunity, and survival in a resource-limited ecosystem"
Lead PI with Drs. Robin Warne, Alexi Besser, Justin Yeakel, and Christina Takacs-Vesbach
2024 - National Science Foundation, DBI-Major Research Instrumentation ($1,267,658; in revision)
“Track #1 acquisition of liquid chromatography Orbitrap mass spectrometer"
Lead PI with Drs. Matt Aronoff, Mark Walker, Curt Mowry, and Keith Prufer
2024 - National Science Foundation, CISE–Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure ($4,917,171; pending)
“IsoBank EMBED – Establishing a multidisciplinary bridge to enhanced discovery"
Co-PI with Drs. Gabe Bowen (PI), Chris Jordan, Sora Kim, Jon Pauli, Zachary Nickerson, Samantha Weintraub-Leff
2024 - National Science Foundation, DEB–Population and Community Ecology ($7,650,000)
“LTER: Sevilleta Site: Environmental Variability at Dryland Ecotones"
Co-PI with Drs. Jennifer Rudgers (PI), Marcy Litvak, Yiqi Luo, Alex Webster
2024 - U.S. Marine Mammal Commission ($59,777)
“Developing a method to assess the nutritional status of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in response to environmental change"
Lead PI with Drs. Geraldine Busquets Vass and Melissa Emery Thompson
2024 - National Science Foundation, EAR–Geoinformatics ($579,391)
“Into the ISOVERSE – open-source data tools for efficient, transparent, and reproducible processing of stable isotope data"
Co-PI with Drs. Sebastian Kopf (PI), Cajetan Neubauer, and Chris Yarnes
2024 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, American Lobster Research Program ($238,406)
“The role of foraging and diet in determining energetic availability for female lobsters"
Co-PI with Drs. Ben Gutzler (PI), Jason Goldstein, Joshua Carloni, Steve Jury
2024 - National Science Foundation, BIO-Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases ($2,999,905)
“Environmental forces shape the ecology of virulent parasites in coastal ecosystems"
Senior Personnel with Dr. Karen Shapiro (PI)
2024 - National Science Foundation, IOS–Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics ($1,115,258)
“Turtle or egg: characterizing sea turtle reproductive strategies"
Senior Personnel with Dr. Hannah Vander Zanden (PI)
2024- FONDECyT Chile ($230,000)
“The influence of small mammal's gut microbiota on individual specialization and its consequence for network stability in semi-desert ecosystem”
International Collaborator with Drs. Karin Maldonado (PI), Pablo Sabat, Rodrigo Ramos, and Constanza Weinberger
2024- FONDECyT Chile ($260,000)
“Pesticides and dehydration: quantifying susceptibility and adaptive responses to combined environmental stressors in passerine birds”
International Collaborator with Drs. Pablo Sabat (PI), Karin Maldonado, Roberto Nespolo, and Juan Carlos Sanchez Hernandez
2022- FONDECyT Chile ($300,000)
“Ecological factors that determine the incidence and magnitude of individual diet specialization in a marine apex predator”
International Collaborator with Drs. Maritza Sepulveda (PI), Pablo Sabat, and Karin Maldonado
2021 - National Institute of Justice ($320,732)
“Amino acid specific stable isotope ratios in human keratin tissues for region-of-origin and residency determination”
Co-PI with Dr. Christy Mancuso
2021- U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, DEB ($34,963)
“Migratory patterns and overwintering areas of the world's rarest whale, the North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica)"
Lead PI with Dana Wright and Dr. Geraldine Busquets Vass
2020 - National Science Foundation, DEB–Population and Community Ecology ($598,995)
“LTREB: experimental determination of trophic dynamics and energy flow in a semiarid habitat in Chile"
Co-PI with Drs. Douglas Kelt (PI), Tyler Kartzinel, and Justin Yeakel
2019 - National Science Foundation, DIOS–Physiological and Structural Systems ($870,362)
“Δ17O measurements: a new method to study water balance and metabolism in wild animals”"
Co-PI with Drs. John Whiteman (PI), Zachary Sharp, and Alex Gerson
2018 - National Science Foundation, ABI ($1,367,313)
“IsoBank: A centralized repository for isotopic data”
Lead PI with Co-PIs Drs. Jon Pauli, Chris Jordan, and Gabe Bowen
2018 - National Science Foundation, DIOS–Physiological and Structural Systems ($900,735)
“The role of gut microbiota in supplying amino acids to their mammalian hosts”
Lead PI with Co-PIs Drs. Cristina Takacs-Vesbach and Marilyn Fogel
2018 - National Science Foundation, DEB-Population and Community Ecology ($6,400,000)
“Sevileta LTER – Climate variability and dryland ecotones”
Co-PI with Drs. Jennifer Rudgers (PI), Marcy Litvak, Yiqi Luo, and Tom Miller
2020 - UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center ($98,643)
“Investigating the metabolic phenotype of glioblastoma”
Co-PI with Drs. Sara Piccirillo (PI) and Graham Timmins
2019 - FONDECyT Chile ($300,000)
“Paying the costs of hydration: physiological and environmental determinants of producing metabolic water in passerines along an aridity gradient in a coastal desert”
International Collaborator with PI Dr. Pablo Sabat
2019 - FONDECyT Chile ($304,000)
“Ecological opportunity and individual diet specialization in a broadly distributed songbird: the role of animal personalities and physiological flexibility”
International Collaborator with PI Dr. Karin Maldonado
2019 - Western National Parks Association ($9,995)
“Understanding a decade of dietary competition in two endemic island carnivores: implications for conservation, resilience, and persistence”
Co-PI with Juliann Schamel
2019 - NOAA Sea Turtle Annual Internal Funding Allocation ($115,500)
“Establishing novel methods for determining reproductive status and age-at-maturity in sea turtles”
Co-PI with Drs. Jeffrey Seminoff (PI), Calandra Turner Tomaszewicz, Tomo Eguchi, Camryn Allen, Todd Jones
2019 - NOAA–National Marine Fisheries Science Center ($852,199)
“Prioritizing management efforts of Florida loggerhead turtles: carry-over effects and importance of foraging areas”
Co-PI with Drs. Simona Ceriani and Jeffrey Seminoff
2018 - FONDECyT Chile ($341,000)
“Using stable isotope values of marine consumers to characterize change and the role of natural and anthropogenic disturbance in coastal food webs over 13,000 years”
International Collaborator with PI Dr. Chris Harrod
2017 - FONDECyT Chile ($300,000)
“Studying the biology of a relict mammal, Dromiciops gliroides, using landscape genomics and isotopic ecology”
International Collaborator with Co-PIs Drs. Roberto Nespolo and Pablo Sabat
2016 - National Science Foundation, Biological Oceanography ($747,825)
“The energetic assembly of biological communities: a test with deep-sea wood falls”
Co-PI with Dr. Craig McClain
2016 - NSF, DEB-Population and Community Ecology ($720,000)
“Moving beyond causation: ecological consequences of the Pleistocene extinction of megafauna”
Co-PI with Drs. Felisa Smith (PI) and Kate Lyons (Smithsonian)
2016 - National Science Foundation, Archaeology ($300,000)
“Late Pleistocene and early Holocene climate change and human ecology in the tropical Maya lowlands”
Senior Personnel with Co-PIs Drs. Keith Prufer, Yemane Asmerom, Doug Kennett, and Brendan Culleton
2016 - FONDECyT-Chile ($289,693)
“Passerine birds facing marine environments: feeding on salty prey and fighting oxidative stress”
International Collaborator with Co-PI Drs. Pablo Sabat, Francisco Bozinovic, and Roberto Nespolo
2016 - University of New Mexico Research Allocations Committee ($10,000)
“The role of gut microbiota in supplying amino acids to their mammalian hosts”
2016 - National Science Foundation, DEB-Population and Community Ecology ($720,000)
“Moving beyond causation: the ecological consequences of the Pleistocene extinction of North American megafauna”
Co-PI with Drs. Felisa Smith (PI) and Kate Lyons (Smithsonian)
2015 - North Pacific Research Board ($152,602)
“The effects of sea ice loss on protein and fat stores of food-deprived polar bears”
Co-PI with Dr. Merav Ben-David
2014 - United States Fish & Wildlife Service–King Salmon, AK ($38,000)
“Stable isotope analysis of Alaska Peninsula terrestrial carnivores”
Co-PI with Dom Watts (USFWS)
2014 - National Science Foundation: Major Research Instrumentation–Division of Biological Infrastructure ($449,021)
“Acquisition of instrumentation for compound-specific stable isotope analysis at the University of New Mexico”
Lead PI with Co-PIs Drs. Zach Sharp, Blair Wolf, Dave Hanson, and Tom Turner (UNM)
2013 - Smithsonian Institution ($100,000)
“Biodiversity, genomics, and human ecology of California’s Channel Islands”
Co-Investigator with Drs. Torben Rick, Scott Sillett, Rob Fleischer, Jesus Maldonado, and Kathy Ralls (SI)
2013 - University of New Mexico Research Allocations Committee ($8,000)
“Resource partitioning among small mammals at the Sevilleta LTER site in the northern Chihuahua Desert”
2013 - United States Fish & Wildlife Service–King Salmon, AK ($10,000)
“Marine resource use and individual diet specialization of Alaskan Peninsula wolves”
Co-PI with Dom Watts (USFWS)
2013 - United States Geological Survey & National Park Service ($8,500)
“Intertidal interactions among kelp and invertebrates in south central Alaska”
Co-Investigator with Drs. Brenda Ballachey (USGS), Jim Bodkin (USGS), and Heather Coletti (NPS)
2012 - United States Fish & Wildlife Service–King Salmon, AK ($26,000)
“Individual dietary specialization in Alaska Peninsula wolves via isotopic analysis of vibrissae”
Co-PI with Dom Watts (USFWS)
2012 - United States Fish & Wildlife Service–Anchorage, AK ($20,000)
“Determining sea otter prey in southeast Alaska via stable isotope analysis of vibrissae and invertebrates”
Co-PI with Dr. Verena Gill (USFWS)
2012 - North Pacific Research Board ($143,970)
“Retrospective study of walrus foraging and movement patterns during a major ecosystem shift in the Bering and Chukchi Seas”
Lead PI with Co-PI Dr. Patrick R. Lemons (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
2012 - National Park Service and U.S. Navy ($28,190)
“Characterizing island fox dietary preferences across habitats on San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and San Clemente Islands”
Co-PI with Drs. Katherine Ralls (Smithsonian) and Brian Cypher (CSU-Stanislaus)
2011 - FONDECyT-Chile ($92,732)
“The introduction of salmon in southern Chile and its effects on the trophic ecology of the South American sea lion”
Co-Investigator with PI Dr. Maritza Sepulveda Martinez (University of Valparaiso)
2011 - United States Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center–Anchorage, AK ($30,150)
“Coastal Ecosystem Responses to Influences from Land and Sea”
Co-Investigator with PIs Drs. Jim Bodkin and Tim Tinker (USGS)
2011 - National Science Foundation: Population and Community Ecology ($380,000)
"Extending the potential for hydrogen isotope tracers in ecology: experiments, biochemistry, and field studies ”
Lead PI with Co-PI Dr. Marilyn Fogel (Carnegie Institution of Science)
2011 - Montrose Settlements Restoration Program ($50,823)
“Quantifying the diets of breeding bald eagles on the Channel Islands: a multi-proxy approach”
Lead PI with Co-PIs Drs. Paul W. Collins (Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History) and Peter Sharpe (IWS)
2011 - Australian Marine Mammal Centre ($21,198)
“Southern right whales and stable isotopes: towards defining southern right whale feeding habitat and trophic ecology”
Co-Investigator with PIs Drs. Glenn Dunshea, Simon Childerhouse, and Mark Hindell (University of Tasmania)
2011 - United States Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center–Anchorage, AK ($40,000)
“Demographic parameters of walruses estimated from the analysis of stable isotopes in archived teeth”
Co-Investigator with PIs Drs. Dan Monson and Joel Garlich-Miller (USGS)
2011 - Fisheries & Oceans Canada–Winnipeg, MB ($14,000)
“Correlating isotopic, movement, and dive data to assess individuality in ringed seals in the Canadian Arctic”
Co-PI with Dr. Steve Ferguson (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
2010 - United States Fish & Wildlife Service–Homer, AK ($20,000)
“Determining sea otter forage taxa in southeast Alaska through isotope markers in vibrissae”
Co-PI with Dr. Verena Gill (USFWS)
2010 - Montrose Settlements Restoration Program ($26,203)
“Quantifying the diets of breeding bald eagles on the Channel Islands: a multi-proxy approach”
Co-PI with Dr. Paul W. Collins (Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History)
2010 - United States Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center–Anchorage, AK ($23,000)
“Coastal Ecosystem Responses to Influences from Land and Sea”
Co-Investigator with PIs Drs. Jim Bodkin and Tim Tinker (USGS)
2008 - National Science Foundation: Integrative Biology Program ($527,000)
“Isotopes, niches, and birds: the functional ecology of an adaptive radiation”
Co-PI with Dr. Carlos Martinez del Rio (University of Wyoming)
2007 - Smithsonian Walcott Fund ($35,000)
“Stable isotope analysis of great gray owl (Strix nebulosa) invasions in North America”
Co-PI with Dr. Gary R. Graves (Smithsonian Institution)
2007 - Smithsonian Endowment Fund ($30,000)
“Evaluating dietary specialization in sea otters via fatty acid and stable isotope analysis”
Co-PI with Drs. Katherine Ralls & Olav Oftedal (Smithsonian Institution)
2007 - United States Fish & Wildlife Service–Anchorage, AK ($14,500)
“Investigating dietary links to valvular endocarditis in Lower Cook Inlet, AK sea otters”
Co-PI with Drs. Angela Doroff & Verena Gill (USFWS)
2006 - National Science Foundation: Biological Oceanography Program ($235,319)
“Holocene phylochronology and ecology of the northern fur seal”
Co-written with Dr. Liz Hadly & Dr. Marcel van Tuinen (Stanford University)
2004 - National Science Foundation: Biological Oceanography Program ($147,515)
“Paleoecology of pinnipeds on the Pacific Rim”
Co-written with Dr. Paul Koch (UC-Santa Cruz)
2004 - University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States–UCMEXUS ($27,492)
“Stable isotopes in sea lion teeth: Relationships to long-term changes in feeding habits and ecosystem perturbations in the Gulf of California”
Co-written with Dr. David Aurioles-Gamboa (CICIMAR-IPN)
2004 - Mia J. Tegner Memorial Student Research Grant in Historical Ecology ($5,000)
“Historical Perspective of killer whale trophic interactions in the North Pacific”
2003 - Waters Award, Outstanding Doctoral Research Proposal; UCSC Earth Sciences Department ($5,000)
“Holocene ecological shifts on the northeast Pacific margin: insights from the isotopic analysis of archaeofauna”
2003 - PADI Graduate Student Research Grant ($1,500)
“Decline in primary productivity in the northeast Pacific? Records of a top marine consumer”
2001 - Myers Oceanographic & Marine Biology Trust Research Grant ($1,500)
“Putting human exploitation of marine resources in temporal and environmental context”
2001 - Long Marine Laboratory Graduate Student Research Grant ($1,000)
“Holocene shifts in climate and ecology on the central California coast”
2001 - Geological Society of America Graduate Student Research Grant ($1,500)
“Holocene shifts in climate and ecology on the central California coast”
Recent Publications (2023)
*Student/Postdoc Author
*Besser, A.C., *Manlick, P.J., *Blevins, C.M., Takacs-Vesbach, C.D., Newsome, S.D. (2023) Amino acid isotope analysis reveals variation in the gut microbial contribution to host protein metabolism in a wild small mammal community. Ecology Letters. Besser et al. 2023.pdf
*Brown, B.R., Goheen, J.R., Newsome, S.D., Pringle, R.M., Palmer, T.M., Malingati, L. Kartzinel, T.R. (2023) Host phylogeny and functional traits differentiate gut microbiomes in a diverse natural community of small mammals. Molecular Ecology. Brown et al. 2023.pdf
*Derville, S., Torres, L.G., Newsome, S.D., Somes, C.J., Valenzuela, L.O., Vander Zanden, H.B., Baker, C.S., Bérubé, M., Busquets-Vass, G., Carlyon, K., Childerhouse, S.J., Constantine, R., Dunshea, G., Flores, P.A.C., Goldsworthy, S.D., Graham, B., Groch, K., Gröcke, D.R., Harcourt, R., Hindell, M.A., Hulva, P., Jackson, J.A., Kennedy, A.S., Lundquist, D., Mackay, A.I., Neveceralova, P., Oliviera, L., Ott, P.H., Palsbøll, P.J., Patenaude, N., Rowntree, V., Sironi, M., Vermeuelen, E., Watson, M., Zerbini, A.N., Carroll, E.L. (2023) Long-term stability in the circumpolar foraging range of a Southern Ocean predator between the eras of whaling and rapid climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Derville et al. 2023.pdf
*Elliott Smith, E.A., Braje, T.J., Gobalet, K.W., Campbell, B. Newsome, S.D., Rick, T.C. (2023) Archaeological and stable isotope data reveal patterns of fishing across the food web on California's Channel Islands. The Holocene. Elliott Smith et al. 2023.pdf
Hobson, K.A., Whiteman, J.P., Newsome, S.D. (2023) Editorial: New frontiers in the application of stable isotopes to ecological and ecophysiological research. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Hobson et al. 2023.pdf
*Lubcker, N., Whiteman, J.P., Shipley, O.N., Hobson, K.A., Newsome, S.D. (2023) Use of amino acid isotope analysis to investigate capital versus income breeding strategies by three species of Arctic-breeding migratory geese. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Lubcker et al. 2023.pdf
*Manlick, P.J., Cook, J.A., Newsome, S.D. (2023) The coupling of green and brown food webs regulates trophic position in a montane mammal guild. Ecology. Manlick et al. 2023.pdf
*Navarrete, L., Lübcker, N., Alvarez, F., Nespolo, R., Sanchez-Hernandez, J.C., Maldonado, K., Sharp, Z.D., Whiteman, J.P., Newsome, S.D., Sabat P. (2023) A multi-isotope approach reveals seasonal variation in the reliance on marine resources, production of metabolic water, and ingestion of seawater by two species of coastal passerine to maintain water balance. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Navarrete et al. 2023.pdf
*Pereira, A.C., *Mancuso, C.J., Newsome, S.D., Nardoto, G.B., Colli, G.R. (2023) Agricultural input modifies the trophic niche and basal energy sources supporting a top predator across human-modified landscapes. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Pereira et al. 2023.pdf
*Ramirez-Otarola, N., Maldonado, K., Valdes, F., Newsome, S.D., Sabat, P. (2023) Seasonal changes in diet, immune function, and oxidative status in three passerines inhabiting a Mediterranean climate. Oecologia. Ramirez-Otarola et al. 2023.pdf
Rudgers, J., Luketich, A. Bacigalupa, M., Baur, L.E.; Collins, S., Hall, K., Hou, E., Litvak, M., Luo, Y., Miller, T., Newsome, S.D., Pockman, W., Richardson, A., Rinehart, A., Villatoro-Castañeda, M., Wainwright, B., Watson, S., Yogi, P., Zhou, Y. (2023) Infrastructure to factorially manipulate the mean and variance of precipitation in the field. Ecosphere. Rudgers et al. 2023.pdf
Sekercioglu, C.H., Fullwood, M.J., Cerling T., Oviedo, F., Daily, G.C., Ehrlich, P.L., Chamberlain, C.P., Newsome, S.D. (2023) Using stable isotopes to measure the responses of Costa Rican forest birds to agricultural countryside. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Sekercioglu et al. 2023.pdf
*Shipley, O.N., McMeans, B.C., *Besser, A.C., *Bloomfield, E., Newsome, S.D. (2023) Energy channeling and food-chain length impacts body condition in a northern lake predator. Freshwater Biology. Shipley et al. 2023.pdf
*Teixeira, C.R., Botta, S., Cremer, M.J., Marcondes, M.C., Pereira, L.B., Newsome, S.D., Daura Jorge, F.G., Simoes-Lopes, P.C. (2023) Ecologically driven differences in individual diet specialization across three populations of Guiana dolphins. Oecologia. Teixeira et al. 2023.pdf
Turner, T.F., Bart, H.L., McCormick, F.H., *Besser, A.C., Bowes, R.E., Capps, K.A., Dearmon, E.S., Dillman, C.B., Driscoll, K.P., Dugger, A., Hamilton, G.L., Harris, P.M., Hendrickson, D.A., Hoffman, J., Knouft, J.H., Lepak, R.F., Lopez-Fernandez, H., Montaña, C.G., Newsome, S.D., Pease, A.A., Smith, W.L., Taylor, C.A., Welicky, R.L. (2023) Long-term ecological research in freshwaters enabled by regional biodiversity collections, stable isotope analysis, and environmental informatics. BioScience. Turner et al. 2023.pdf
