Tucson, Arizona
[ Desert Ocotillo in Bloom ]
Research Scientist
Cecil Schwalbe is a Research Ecologist for the USGS Sonoran Desert Field Station and a faculty member with the Wildlife and Fisheries Resources program in the School of Renewable Natural Resources at The University of Arizona.
He has been intensively involved in research on and conservation of amphibians and reptiles in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico for over a decade.
Cecil has graduate students working on a variety of research projects including causes of recent declines in native ranid frogs in the Southwest, ecology of rosy boas and whipsnakes, feeding ecology and conservation of black sea turtles, development of methods for monitoring reptile populations in various habitats, dietary and reproductive ecology of fringe-toed lizards, and the ecology, genetics and morphometrics of desert tortoises.
Degree Year University Major; Minor
B.A. 1969 Rice University Mechanical Engineering
M.S. 1973 Washington State Environmental Science;
University Ecology
Ph.D. 1981 University of Arizona Zoology; Physiology
Murray, R.C., C.R. Schwalbe, S.J. Bailey, S.P. Cuneo, and S.D. Hart. Submitted. Reproduction in a Sonoran Desert population of the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Herpetological Natural History.
Bailey, S.J., C.R. Schwalbe, and C.H. Lowe. 1995. Hibernaculum use by a population of desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) in the Sonoran Desert. J. Herpetol. 29:361-369.
Hale, S.F., C.R. Schwalbe, J.L. Jarchow, C. May, C.H. Lowe, and T.B. Johnson. 1995. Disappearance of the Tarahumara frog. Pp. 138-140 in LaRoe, E.T., G.S. Farris, C.E. Puckett, P.D. Doran, and M.J. Mac, eds. Our living resources: a report to the nation on the distribution, abundance, and health of U.S. plants, animals, and ecosystems. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Biological Service, Washington, D.C. 530 p.
Holycross, A.T. and C.R. Schwalbe. 1995. Geographic Distribution. Serpentes. Lampropeltis triangulum. Herpetolog. Review 26:46.
Rosen, P.C. and C.R. Schwalbe. 1995. Bullfrogs: introduced predators in southwestern wetlands. Pp. 452-454 in Laroe et al. (1995).
Parizek, D.A., P.C. Rosen, C.R. Schwalbe, and C.H. Lowe. 1996. Ecology of the Mexican rosy boa and the Ajo Mountain whipsnake. Arizona Game and Fish Department Heritage Program, Phoenix. 84 p.
Rosen, P.C., C.R. Schwalbe, D.A. Parizek, P.A. Holm, and C.H. Lowe. 1995. Introduced aquatic vertebrates in the Chiricahua region: effects on declining native ranid frogs. Pp. 251-261 in L.F. DeBano, P.F. Ffolliott, A. Ortega-Rubio, G.J. Gottfried, R.H.
Hamre, and C.B. Edminster (tech. coords.), Biodiversity and Management of the Madrean Archipelago: the sky islands of southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-GTR-264. Fort Collins, Colorado. Dept. Agr., U.S. Forest Serv., Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 669 p.
Fish and Wildlife Service. 1994. Desert tortoise (Mojave population) Recovery Plan. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. 73 pages plus appendices.
Fish and Wildlife Service. 1994. Proposed desert management areas for recovery of the Mojave population of the desert tortoise. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. 100 p.
Lowe, C.H., C.R. Schwalbe, and T.B. Johnson. 1986. The Venomous Reptiles of Arizona, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix. 115 p.
Cecil enjoys racket sports, country swing, wildlife photography, and making frogs croak (by imitating their calls to get them to respond so they can be photographed).