Dr. Rick Relyea

Genetics
K. Arndt
T.-L. Ashman
G. Campbell
D. Chapman
G. Hatfull
J. Hildebrand
L. Jacobson
S. Kalisz
J. Martens
W. Saunders
B. Stronach
S. Tonsor
R. Wood

Microbiology
J. Boyle
G. Hatfull
R. Hendrix
J. Lawrence
J. Pipas
M. Popa
R.L. Duda
S. Godfrey
V. Oke

Molecular Biology
K. Arndt
J. Franzen
P. Grabowski
G. Hatfull
R. Hendrix
L. Jen-Jacobson
J. Martens
C. Peebles
J. Pipas
J. Rosenberg
A. Schwacha
C. Walsh

Plant Biology
T.-L. Ashman
W. Carson
S. Kalisz
V. Oke
C. Partanen
S. Tonsor
B. Traw

Science Education
A. Bledsoe
K. Curto
L. Daniels
S. Godfrey
N. Kaufmann
C. LaFave
J. Newman
E. Polinko
M. Popa
L. Roberts
T. Seiflein
R. Sherwin
A. Slinskey Legg

Structural Biology
M. Grabe
J. Hempel
R. Hendrix
L. Jen-Jacobson
J. Rosenberg
A. VanDemark

Former Faculty

Photo of Dr.
Relyea

Aquatic Ecology, Toxicology, Evolution and Behavior

Associate Professor and Director, Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology

Dr. Relyea received his Ph.D. in 1998 with Earl Werner at the University of Michigan and joined the Department in 1999.

Currently, Dr. Relyea is accepting graduate students in his laboratory. Dr. Relyea is accepting undergraduate researchers, and does sponsor students in other laboratories.

Professional Interests - Publications - Contact Information - Lab Personnel

Professional Interests of Rick Relyea

Wood Frog For effective conservation of natural communities, we have to understand how communities work and how they are affected by human impacts. To accomplish this goal, my lab works at the interface of several biological fields, including ecology, evolution, animal behavior, development, toxicology, and biochemistry. By integrating our thinking (and our experiments) across these diverse biological disciplines, we can develop exciting new insights that improve our basic understanding of ecological communities as well as making discoveries that are important to conservation. I have applied this approach to my studies of aquatic communities in which I work in a variety of environments (from highly controlled laboratory experiment to pond mesocosms and natural field sites) and focus on a diversity of aquatic organisms including amphibians, fish, insects, snails, and other aquatic invertebrates.

My research program can be broken down into three broad areas:

The effects of pesticides on amphibians and aquatic communities
The ecology and evolution of phenotypic plasticity, including how predators and competitors affect an organism's behavior, morphology, and life history
Long-term monitoring of aquatic communities

For much more detailed information, check out the Relyea Laboratory webpage.

Publication Archive
57 Citations
54 Abstracts
51 PDFs

Recent Publications of Rick Relyea

Schoeppner, N.M., and R.A. Relyea (2009) When should prey respond to heterospecific alarm cues? Testing the hypotheses of perceived risk. Copeia :In Press

Relyea, R.A. (2008) A cocktail of contaminants: How pesticide mixtures at low concentrations affect aquatic communities. Oecologia :In Press

Relyea, R.A., and J.T. Hoverman (2008) Interactive effects of pesticides and predators on aquatic communities. Oikos :In Press

McCauley, S.J., C.J. Davis, R.A. Relyea, K.L. Yurewicz, D.K. Skelly, and E.E. Werner (2008) Metacommunity patterns in larval odonates. Oecologia :In Press

Auld, J.R., and R.A. Relyea (2008) Are there interactive effects of mate availability and predation risk on life history and defense in a simultaneous hermaphrodite? J. Evol. Biol. 21:1371-1378 (PDF Reprint: 122 kb)

Relyea, R.A., and N. Diecks (2008) An unforeseen chain of events for amphibians: Lethal effects of pesticides at sublethal concentrations. Ecol. Appl. 18:1728-1742 (PDF Reprint: 328 kb)

Relyea, R.A. (2008) Multiple stressors and indirect food web effects of contaminants on herptofauna. Pp In Press in Ecotoxicology of Amphibians and Reptiles, 2nd edition, Sparling, D., Ed. CRC Press, New York

Schoeppner, N.M., and R.A. Relyea (2008) Detecting small environmental differences: Risk-response curves for predator-induced behavior and morphology. Oecologia 154:743-754 (PDF Reprint: 455 kb)

Hoverman, J.T., and R.A. Relyea (2008) Temporal variation in predation risk: Phenotypes, fitness, and trait-mediated interactions. Oikos 117:23-32 (PDF Reprint: 196 kb)

Relyea, R.A. (2008) The effects of pesticides on amphibians. Pp 48-49 in Threatened Amphibians of the World, Stuart, S.N., M. Hoffman, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, R.J. Berridge, P. Ramini, and B.E. Young, Ed. Lynx Ediciones, Barcelona

Hoverman, J.T., and R.A. Relyea (2007) The rules of engagement: How prey respond to multiple predators. Oecologia 154:551-560 (PDF Reprint: 429 kb)

Werner, E.E., D.K. Skelly, R.A. Relyea, and K.L. Yurewicz (2007) Amphibian species richness across environmental gradients. Oikos 116:1697-1712 (PDF Reprint: 478 kb)

Werner, E.E., K.L. Yurewicz, D.K. Skelly, and R.A. Relyea (2007) Turnover in an amphibian metacommunity: the role of local and regional factors. Oikos 116:1713-1725 (PDF Reprint: 258 kb)

Hoverman, J.T., and R.A. Relyea (2007) How flexible is phenotypic plasticity? Developmental windows for trait induction and reversal. Ecology 88:693-705 (PDF Reprint: 197 kb)

Relyea, R.A., and J.T. Hoverman (2006) Assessing the ecology in ecotoxicology: A review and synthesis in freshwater systems. Ecol. Lett. 9:1157-1171 (PDF Reprint: 419 kb)

How to Contact Rick Relyea

US Mail
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Biological Sciences
101A Clapp Hall
4249 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Phone, FAX, Internet
Office : (412) 624-4656
Lab : (412) 624-4458
FAX : (412) 624-4759
Email : relyea+@pitt.edu
Web : http://www.pitt.edu/~relyea

This Site is maintained by the Bioscience Webmaster; this page was last modified 5 October 2008