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James D. Roth Ph.D. Minnesota Phone: 407-823-4334 Office: BIO 102C Email: jroth@mail.ucf.edu Web Page: Behavioral Ecology and Evolution

October, 2004: James Roth was quoted in "Seasons of the Snow Fox," an article published in the October 2004 issue of National Geographic. Dr. Roth's research data were incorporated as part of the article.

Research Interests

Dr. Roth’s research focuses on the interactions between predators and prey and their impact on population dynamics and food web structure. He is particularly interested in the importance of energy flows between ecosystems (marine to terrestrial) on species interactions, such as 1) the indirect effects of seal carrion on lemming cycles through predation by arctic foxes, 2) the importance of intraguild predation between sea turtle nest predators (raccoons and ghost crabs) on sea turtle nesting success, and 3) nutrient transport by brown hyenas feeding on seals impacting plant biodiversity in the Namib desert. Stable isotope analysis is a technique he uses extensively, and he is interested in applications of this technique for understanding food web interactions, particularly in systems with conservation implications. Current examples include geographical variation in the diet and population cycles of Canada lynx, and dietary reconstruction of southeastern beach mice, a threatened species endemic to central Florida=s coast. Other current research projects include modeling spatial interactions between endangered red wolves and sympatric coyotes, and understanding adaptive function of social interactions among polar bears.

Selected Publications

Hannan LB, Roth JD, Ehrhart LM, and Weishampel JF. In press. Dune vegetation fertilization by nesting sea turtles. Ecology.

Barton BT and Roth JD. In press. Raccoon removal on sea turtle nesting beaches. Journal of Wildlife Management.

Wirsing AJ, Roth JD, and Murray DM. 2005. Can prey use dietary cues to distinguish predators? A test involving three terrestrial amphibians. Herpetologica 61:104-110.

Roth JD. 2003. Variability in marine resources affects arctic fox population dynamics. Journal of Animal Ecology 72:668-676.

Roth JD. 2002. Temporal variability in the diet of arctic foxes as reflected in stable-carbon isotopes; the importance of sea ice. Oecologia 133:70-77.

Murray DM, Roth JD, Ellsworth E, Wirsing AJ, and Steury TD. 2002. Estimating southern snowshoe hare populations using fecal pellet counts. Canadian Journal of Zoology 80:771-781.

Roth JD and Hobson KA. 2000. Stable-carbon and nitrogen isotopic fractionation between diet and tissue of captive red fox: implications for dietary reconstruction. Canadian Journal of Zoology 78:848-852.

Abrams PA, Holt RD, and Roth JD. 1998. Apparent competition or apparent mutualism? Shared predation when populations cycle. Ecology 79:201-212.

Starfield AM, Roth JD, and Ralls K. 1995. "Mobbing" in Hawaiian monk seals: the value of simulation modeling in the absence of apparently crucial data. Conservation Biology 9:166-174.

Abrams PA and Roth JD. 1994. The effects of enrichment on three-species food chains with nonlinear functional responses. Ecology 75:1118-1130.