Eric Pianka's Past Graduate Students

Graduate Students who have graduated



Raymond B. Huey (M. A., 1969). "Ecological Relations of Sympatric Phyllodactylus in the Sechura Desert of Peru." Ph. D., Harvard University (1975). Miller Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Univ. California at Berkeley; Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. W. Frank Blair was actually Huey's supervisor, but I was on his committee and we spent a lot of time together before he became my research assistant and we studied the ecology of Kalahari Desert lizards. He and I both consider our mentor-pupil relationship as an unofficial sponsorship. Huey retired in 2013 (HueyFest) and is now Professor and Chair Emeritus at the Department of Biology at the University of Washington.

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 1974. Ecological character displacement in a lizard. American Zoologist 14: 1127-1136. Download pdf

Huey, R. B., E. R. Pianka, M. E. Egan, and L. W. Coons. 1974. Ecological shifts in sympatry: Kalahari fossorial lizards (Typhlosaurus). Ecology 55: 304-316. Download pdf

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 1977. Natural selection for juvenile lizards mimicking noxious beetles. Science 195: 201-203. Download pdf

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 1977. Patterns of niche overlap among broadly sympatric versus narrowly sympatric Kalahari lizards (Scincidae: Mabuya). Ecology 58: 119-128.

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 1977. Seasonal variation in thermoregulatory behavior and body temperature of diurnal Kalahari lizards. Ecology 58: 1066-1075. (With an Appendix by J. A. Hoffman.)

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 1981. Ecological consequences of foraging mode. Ecology 62: 991-999. Download pdf

Huey, R. B. , E. R. Pianka, and T. W. Schoener. 1983. Introduction (pp. 1-6) in R. B. Huey, E. R. Pianka, and T. W. Schoener (eds.) Lizard Ecology: Studies of a Model Organism. Harvard University Press.

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 1983. Temporal separation of activity and interspecific dietary overlap (with an Appendix by S. L. Pimm). Chapter 13 (pp. 281-296) in R. B. Huey, E. R. Pianka, and T. W. Schoener (eds.) Lizard Ecology: Studies of a Model Organism. Harvard University Press.

Huey, R. B. , E. R. Pianka, and C. M. Cavalier. 1983. Ecology of Lizards in the Kalahari Desert, Africa. National Geographic Society Research Reports 16: 365-370.

Huey, R. B. , E. R. Pianka, and L. J. Vitt . 2001. How often do lizards "run on empty?" Ecology 82: 1-7. Download pdf

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 2007. Lizard thermal biology: do genders differ? Amer. Natur.170: 473-478. Download pdf

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 2007. On Widely Foraging for Kalahari Lizards. Preface, pp. 1-10 in S. M. Reilly, L. D. McBrayer, and D. B. Miles, eds. "Lizard Ecology: The Evolutionary Consequences of Foraging Mode." Cambridge University Press. Read on line

Huey, R. B. and E. R. Pianka. 2017. Body temperature distributions of active diurnal lizards in three deserts: skewed up or skewed down? Functional Ecology, in press. Early view. Download pdf

Richard D. Howard (M. A., 1972). "Influence of Sexual Selection and Interspecific Competition on Mockingbird Song." Ph. D., University of Michigan (1977). Professor, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. Howard is retired and is now an Emeritus Professor at Purdue University.

Jos. J. Schall (Ph. D., 1976). "Comparative Ecology of Sympatric Parthenogenetic and Bisexual Species of Cnemidophorus." Professor Emeritus, University of Vermont, Burlington.

Schall, J. J. and E. R. Pianka. 1977. Species densities of reptiles and amphibians on the Iberian peninsula. Donana, Acta Vertebrata 4: 27-34. Download pdf

Schall, J. J. and E. R. Pianka. 1978. Geographical trends in numbers of species. Science 201: 679-686. Download pdf

Schall, J. J. and E. R. Pianka. 1980. Evolution of escape behavior diversity. American Naturalist 115: 551-566. Download pdf

Pianka, E. R. and J. J. Schall. 1981. Species densities of terrestrial vertebrates in Australia. Chapter 59 (pp. 1675-1694) in A. Keast (ed.) Ecological Biogeography in Australia. D. W. Junk, The Hague, Netherlands. (Reprinted in 1984 as Chapter 1.11 (pp. 119-124) in M. Archer and G. Clayton (eds.) Vertebrate Zoogeography and Evolution in Australasia. University of New South Wales, Kensington, N. S. W., Australia.) Download pdf

Nancy T. Burley (Ph. D., 1977). "Mate Choice and Sexual Selection in the Pigeon, Columba livia." Assistant Professor, McGill University, 1977-1979; Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1979-1984; Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1984-1989; Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1989- 1991; Professor, Univ. California, Irvine.

Anthony J. Joern (Ph. D., 1977). Co-sponsored with L. R. Lawlor, "Guild and Community Structure in Primary Consumers: Resource Utilization in Arid Grassland Grasshopper Communities (Orthoptera: Acrididae)." Professor, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Professor, Kansas State University.

Winemiller, K. O. , E. R. Pianka, L. J. Vitt, and A. Joern. 2001. Food web laws or niche theory? Six independent empirical tests. American Naturalist 158: 193-199. Download pdf

Mary Lee Wissink George (Ph. D., 1980). "Hummingbird foraging behavior and pollination energetics of Malvaviscus arboreus."

Duncan A. MacKay (Ph. D., 1982) Co-sponsored with M. Singer, "Search behavior and host plant selection by ovipositing Euphydryas editha butterflies." Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia.

Christopher Schneider (M. S., 1987). "Comparative ecology of two guilds of shorebirds on the south Texas coast." (Ph. D., 1993), University of California at Berkeley. Professor, Boston University.


Kirk O. Winemiller (Ph. D., 1987). Co-sponsored with C. Hubbs, "Tests of ecomorphological and community level convergence among neotropical stream fish assemblages." Fulbright Research Scholar to Zambia, 1988-89. Research Associate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Department of Zoology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1989- 1992. George Mercer Award, Ecological Society of America, 1992. Regents Professor, Texas A & M University.

Winemiller, K. O. and E. R. Pianka. 1990. Organization in natural assemblages of desert lizards and tropical fishes. Ecological Monographs 60: 27-55. Download pdf.

Winemiller, K. O. , E. R. Pianka, L. J. Vitt, and A. Joern. 2001. Food web laws or niche theory? Six independent empirical tests. American Naturalist 158: 193- 199. Download pdf

Winemiller, K. O. , D. Fitzgerald, L. Bower, and E. R. Pianka. 2015. Functional traits, convergent evolution, and periodic tables of niches. Ecology Letters 18(8): 737Ð751. Download pdf.

Pianka, E. R., L. J. Vitt, N. Pelegrin, N., D. B. Fitzgerald, and K. O. Winemiller . 2017. Towards a Periodic Table of Niches or Exploring the Lizard Niche Hypervolume. American Naturalist, in press. Press Release. Early View Download pdf

Mitchell A. Leslie (M. A., 1988). "The evolutionary omission: Lizard displays and evolution." Curator, Texas Memorial Museum, Austin, Texas, 1988-91. Editor, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Austin, Texas, 1991-97. Science Writer, Stanford University Medical School. Currently a freelance science writer for Science magazine, among others.

Daniel T. Haydon (Ph. D., 1992). "Stability and complexity revisited." Postdoctoral research associate, Oxford University, U.K.; University of British Columbia; Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Midlothian, Scotland; Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Professor, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland; Zoological Society of London's Scientific Medal, awarded to a scientist under the age of 40 years, for distinguished work in Zoology, 2006. Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2008--. Director, Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine. Spotlight on an Alumnus

Daniel T. Haydon , R. R. Radtkey, and E. R. Pianka. 1993. Experimental Biogeography: Interactions between stochastic, historical, and ecological processes in a model archipelago. Chapter 11 (pp. 117-130) in R. E. Ricklefs and D. Schluter (eds.) Species Diversity in Ecological Communities: Historical and Geographical Perspectives. University of Chicago Press. Download pdf

Daniel T. Haydon , B. I. Crother, and E. R. Pianka. 1994. New directions in biogeography? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9: 403-406. Download pdf.

Daniel T. Haydon and E. R. Pianka. 1999. Metapopulation theory, landscape models, and species diversity. EcoScience 6: 316-328. Abstract, Download pdf

Daniel T. Haydon , J. K. Friar, and E. R. Pianka. 2000. Fire Driven Dynamic Habitat Mosaics in the Great Victoria Desert I: Fire Geometry. Landscape Ecology 15: 373-381. Abstract, Download pdf

Daniel T. Haydon , J. K. Friar, and E. R. Pianka. 2000. Fire Driven Dynamic Habitat Mosaics in the Great Victoria Desert II: A spatial and temporal landscape model. Landscape Ecology 15: 407-423. Abstract, Download pdf

Ray R. Radtkey (Ph. D., 1993) Co-sponsored with M. Singer, "Evaluating the role of ecological interactions in species evolution: two examples combining historical and ecological information." Postdoctoral Research Associate, Univ. Calif. San Diego, La Jolla. Director of Product Development and Product Support at Nanogen, San Diego. Currently Vice President, Product Development and Quality, Nanomix, Oakland.

Daniel T. Haydon , R. R. Radtkey, and E. R. Pianka. 1993. Experimental Biogeography: Interactions between stochastic, historical, and ecological processes in a model archipelago. Chapter 11 (pp. 117-130) in R. E. Ricklefs and D. Schluter (eds.) Species Diversity in Ecological Communities: Historical and Geographical Perspectives. University of Chicago Press. Download pdf

Gad Perry (Ph.D. 1995). The Evolutionary Ecology of Lizard Foraging: A Comparative Study." Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Ohio State University; Postdoctoral, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Professor of Conservation Biology at Texas Tech University, Lubbock.
Gad Perry and E. R. Pianka. 1997. Animal foraging: past, present and future. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 12: 360-364. Download pdf

Monica Swartz (Ph.D. 1997). "Behavioral and population ecology of the army ant Eciton burchelli and ant-following birds." Fulbright to Costa Rica, 1993-94. Taught a field course in Amazonian Peru for Evergreen College, Olympia, Washington. Taught a field course in the neotropical Ecuador for Boston University. Postdoc at the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of California, Riverside. 2002-2004; Scientist for Coachella Valley Water District. Director of the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, Associate Professor of Biology, St. Edwards University, Austin, Texas.

Nancy Heger (Ph.D. 2000). The impact of size on thermal efficiency: size related costs and benefits in Varanus giganteus. Taught at Southwest Texas University; Senior Systems Analyst at the University of Texas. Assistant Professor, Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma. GIS Analyst, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.


L. Ramki Ramakrishnan (Ph.D. 2000). Environmental variability and ecological dynamics in spatially structured populations. Taught at the University of Texas before returning to India. Currently population scientist and Country Director of 'Solidarity and Action against the HIV Infection in India' in Chennai, India.

Jennings W. B. (Ph.D. 2002). Phylogeny, ecology, and the nature of cladogenesis in Australian pygopodid lizards. Postdoctoral, University of Washington, Seattle, and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Assistant Professor, Humboldt State University. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Departamento de Vertebrados, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Jennings, W. B. , E. R. Pianka, and S. Donnellan. 2003. Systematics of the lizard family Pygopodidae with implications for the diversification of Australian temperate biotas. Systematic Biology 52: 757-780. Download pdf

Jennings, W. B. and E. R. Pianka, E. R. 2004. Tempo and Timing of the Australian Varanus Radiation. Chapter 4 (pp. 77-87) in Pianka, E. R. and D. R. King, eds. 2004. Varanoid Lizards of the World. Indiana University Press.

Wendy L. Hodges (Ph.D. 2002). Phrynosoma systematics, comparative reproductive ecology, and conservation of a Texas native. Postdoctoral at the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of California, Riverside, 2002; 2003-2004 NSF Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of California, Riverside. Assistant Professor, University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

Pianka, E. R. and W. L. Hodges . 1998. Horned lizards. Reptiles 6 (6): 48-63. Translated into Finnish in 2003, published as Sarvikonnaliskot -- Phrynosoma in Herpetomania 12: 5-19.


Carla Guthrie
(Ph. D., 2005). Co-sponsored with Larry Gilbert. Diversity in Motion: The influence of dispersal and metacommunity spatial structure in Heliconia phyteltomata. Natural Resource Specialist, Texas Water Development Board.


Stephen E. Goodyear (M. A., 2011). Variation in diet and habitat resource use in desert adapted lizards in Western Australia.

Goodyear, S. E. and E. R Pianka. 2008. Sympatric Ecology of Five Species of Fossorial Snakes (Elapidae) in Western Australia. J. Herpetology 42: 279-285. Download pdf

Goodyear, S. E. and E. R. Pianka. 2011. Spatial and temporal variation in diets of sympatric lizards (genus Ctenotus) in the Great Victoria Desert, Western Australia. J. Herpetology 45: 265-271. Download pdf

Pianka, E. R. and S. E. Goodyear. 2012. Lizard responses to wildfire in arid interior Australia: Long-term experimental data and commonalities with other studies. Austral Ecology 37: 1-11. Download pdf

Alison M. Gainsbury (Ph. D., 2012). Brazilian Central Cerrado Lizards in Introduced Eucalyptus Plantations: Human Mediated Habitat Disturbance Effects from Community Diversity to Population Divergence. Alison did a postdoc with Shai Meir at Tel Aviv University working on global associations between climate, net primary productivity and lizard diets. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.



  • To all prospective graduate students
  • Courses Taught by E.R.Pianka
  • Herpetology at UT
  • Pianka's Ten Commandments
  • "Obituary" (Dead for a Day)




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