Catherine A. Toft

Section of Evolution & Ecology,

Division of Biological Sciences and

Center for Population Biology

University of California

Davis, CA 95616

(530) 752-7614, 1272 (messages), FAX 1449

catoft@ucdavis.edu

 

Cathy Toft (third from left) with a group of students reviewing a topo map
of her long-term study site, the sand-dune ecosystems on the north shore
of Mono Lake.  Mono Craters, on the south side of the lake, can be seen
in the background.

Current Research 

Recent Publications

Graduate Studies

Mono Basin research

Current research interests: Population ecology, including the study of communities and behavioral ecology. On-going research projects include:


Recent selected peer-reviewed publications:

  • Benard, R.B. and C.A. Toft. 2008. Fine-scale spatial heterogeneity and seed size determine early seedling survival in a desert perennial shrub (Ericameria nauseosa: Asteraceae).  Plant Ecology 194:195-205.

  • Benard, R.B. and C.A. Toft. 2007. Effect of seed size on seedling performance in a long-lived desert perennial shrub (Ericameria nauseosa: Asteraceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 186: 1027-1033.

  • McWilliams, S.R., T. Sloat, C.A. Toft, and D. Hatch.  2007. Effects of prescribed fall burning on a wetland plant community with implications for management of plants and herbivores. Western North American Naturalist 67:299-317.

  • Cook, L.F. and C.A. Toft. 2005.  Dynamics of extinction: Population decline in the colonial Tricolored Blackbird Agelaius tricolor.  Bird Conservation International 15:73-88.

  • Toft, C.A. and T. Fraizer.  2003.  Spatial dispersion and density dependence in a perennial desert shrub (Chrysothamnus nauseosus : Asteraceae).  Ecological Monographs 73: 605-624.

  • Toft, C.A. and D.L. Elliott-Fisk. 2002.  Patterns of vegetation along a spatiotemporal gradient

    • on shoreline strands of a desert basin lake. Plant Ecology 158:21-39.

  • Wright, T.W., C.A. Toft, E. Enkerlin-Hoeflich, M. Albornoz, S. Beissinger, V. Berovides A., A. T. Brice, J. Eberhard,  X. Gálvez A., J. Gilardi, J. Gonzalez-Elizondo, S. E. Koenig, P. Martuscelli, J. M. Meyers, K. Renton, A. M Rodríguez, A. Rodríguez-Ferraro, F. Rojas-Suárez, V. Sanz, M.Sosa-Asanza, S. Stoleson, A. Trujillo, F.Vilella, and J. W. Wiley.  2001.  Nest Poaching in Neotropical Parrots.  Conservation Biology, 15:710-720.

  • Brown, D.M. and C.A. Toft.  1999.  Molecular systematics and biogeography of the cockatoos (Psittaciformes:  Cacatuidae).  Auk 116(1):141-157.

  • Toft, C.A. 1995. A ten-year demographic study of rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus): Growth, survival and water limitation Oecologia 101:1-12.

  • Toft, C.A. 1995. Evolution of diet specialization in poison-dart frogs (Dendrobatidae). Herpetologica 51:202-206.

Full Vita

 

 

Upcoming papers:

  • Toft, C.A. and J.D. Gilardi, in press.  Parrots of the Wild:  A Natural History of the World’s Most Endangered Birds.  University of California Press, Berkeley.

  • Benard, R.B. and C.A. Toft, in preparation. Seedling establishment in a desert perennial shrub: causes and consequences of spatial aggregation.

  • Floyd, K.W. and C.A. Toft, in preparation.  Spatial demography of greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus: Chenopodiaceae) in the Mono Lake Basin, California.

List of former students and mentees, with their contact information and publications.

Courses taught