Department of Biology, University of Utah

phone number: 1-801-587-3405

fax number: 1-801-581-4665

Education

Ph. D., Environmental Sciences, University of Rhode Island
M.S., Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University
B.S., Physiology, Michigan State University

Interests
I am primarily interested in the nutritional and physiological ecology of animals. Up to now, my research has included studying the effects of diet choice and diet quality on the ability of birds to satisfy their nutritional needs during migration. I am currently working on producing physiological models that predict the isotopic ratios in hair keratin of humans based on the isotopic ratios in diet and drinking water. Also as part of the "Isoscapes" group in the Ehleringer lab I am working on producing spatially-explicit maps that model the predicted isotopic ratios of keratin in humans. Please see our page for more information

Publications

Podlesak, DW, SR McWilliams and KA Hatch. 2005. Stable isotopes in breath, blood, feces and feathers can indicate intra-individual changes in the diet of migratory songbirds. Oecologia 142: 501-510. (pdf download)

Podlesak, DW and CR Blem. 2002. Determination of age of nestling Prothonotary Warblers. Journal of Field Ornithology 73: 33-37.

Podlesak, DW and CR Blem. 2001. Factors associated with growth of nestling Prothonotary Warblers. Wilson Bulletin 113: 263-272.

Publications in review

Podlesak, DW and SR McWilliams. Metabolic routing of dietary nutrients in birds: effects of diet quality and macronutrient composition revealed using stable isotopes. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

Podlesak, DW and SR McWilliams. Metabolic routing of dietary nutrients in birds: effects of dietary lipid concentration on ¹³C of depot fat. Condor