Linking nutrient flux in a desert food web to the allocation dynamics in lizards: Combining stable isotopes and ecological stoichiometry

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Nutrient dynamics within plant-animal communities are critical, yet poorly understood, drivers of the reproductive and population dynamics of predators. This is the first study that attempts to link nutrient allocation in insectivorous lizards to variation in insect prey quality resulting from seasonal and rain-driven variation in plant nutritional quality. At the Sevilleta LTER in New Mexico, summer monsoons drive the production of plants using C4 photosynthesis. These C4 plants are less nutritious for insect consumers than winter-rain-driven, spring dominant C3 plants. This study will measure and use a remarkable combination of naturally occurring differences in stable isotopes, lipid-protein content and seasonal abundance of these plants and insects, interlinked with a laboratory-based experiment, to explore the importance of nutritional variation in C3 and C4 resources for lizard reproduction at seasonal and inter-annual timescales. Broader impacts: This project will broaden the scope of current ecology investigations by linking precipitation and plant growth to the nutritional ecology and reproductive physiology of insect and vertebrate consumers. These data will also provide insight into how climate change may impact the ecology of plant-animal communities. Lastly, this study will enrich middle school science education through collaborations between Sevilleta LTER researchers and GK-12 educators.