Publications

Mora YA, Sheldon S, Carrero J, Farabaugh SM, Sustaita D. 2025. The effect of wing-flashing behavior on prey capture performance of San Clemente Loggerhead Shrikes. Integrative Organismal Biology 7: obae042. 

Rico-Guevara A, Sustaita D, Hurme KJ, Hanna JE, Jung S, Field DJ. 2024. Upper bill bending as an adaptation for nectar feeding in hummingbirds. J. R. Soc. Interface 21: 20240286. 

Sustaita D, Laurin MA. 2024. Biomechanics of biting in loggerhead shrikes: jaw-closing force, velocity, and an argument for power. Journal of Experimental Biology 227: jeb246555. And issue cover.

Woldt KM, Pratt RB, Statham MJ , Barthman-Thompson L, Sustaita D. 2024. Comparative skeletal anatomy of the salt marsh and western harvest mice in relation to locomotor ecology. Journal of Anatomy 00: 1-14.

Sustaita D, Wulf G, Sethuraman A. 2024. Phenotypic differentiation despite gene flow: beak morphology, bite performance, and population genetics of Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus). Ecology & Evolution 14: e11079. 

Colwell RK, Rangel T, Fucikova K, Sustaita D, Yanega GM, Rico-Guevara A. 2023. Repeated evolution of unorthodox feeding styles drives a negative correlation between foot size and bill length in hummingbirds. The American Naturalist Volume 202: 699-720. 

Pouydebat E, Boulinguez-Ambroise G, Manzano A, Abdala V, Sustaita D. 2023. Convergent Evolution of Manual and Pedal Grasping Capabilities in Tetrapods (pp. 323-389). In: Convergent Evolution–Animal Form and Function, Bels V & Russell, AP (Editors). Springer Cham.

Holmes J, Sustaita D, Hertel F. 2022. Geometric morphometric analysis of the humerus in New and Old World vultures. Journal of Morphology 283: 379-394.

van Heteren AH, Wroe S, Tsang LR, Mitchell DR, Ross P, Ledogar JA, Attard MRG, Sustaita D, Clausen P, Scofield RP, Sansalone G. 2021. New Zealand’s extinct giant raptor (Hieraaetus moorei) killed like an eagle, ate like a condor. Proc. R. Soc. B 288: 20211913.

McElroy EJ, Sustaita D, McBrayer LD. 2020. Applied functional biology: linking ecological morphology to conservation and management. Integrative & Comparative Biology 60: 402-412.

Bleich VC, Blum ME, Shoemaker KT, Sustaita D, Holl SA. 2019. Habitat selection by bighorn sheep in a mesic ecosystem: the San Rafael Mountains, California, USA. California Fish and Game 105:205-224.

Rico-Guevara A, Sustaita D, Bright JA, Corbin CE, Gussekloo SWS, Olsen A, and Dudley R. 2019. Chapter 17: Feeding in Birds: Thriving in Terrestrial, Aquatic, and Aerial Niches. In Feeding in Vertebrates: Evolution, Morphology, Behavior, Biomechanics (Bels V, Whishaw IQ, Editors) - Springer International Publishing AG, Cham, Switzerland.

Sustaita D, Gloumakov Y, Tsang LR, Dollar AM. 2019. Behavioral correlates of semi-zygodactyly in Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) based on analysis of internet images. PeerJ 7:e6243.

Sustaita D, Rubega MA, Farabaugh SM. 2018. Come on baby, let’s do the twist: the kinematics of killing in loggerhead shrikes. Biology Letters 14 20180321.

Sustaita D, Rico-Guevara A, and Hertel F. 2018. Chapter 15: Foraging behavior. In Ornithology: Foundation, Analysis, and Application (Morrison ML, Rodewald AD, Voelker G, Colón MR, and Prather JF, Editors). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.

Sustaita D, Brown SK, Barthman-Thompson L, Estrella S, Patterson L, Finfrock PQ, Villablanca FX. 2018. Distinguishing between northern salt marsh and western harvest mice. Journal of Wildlife Management 82:723-733. And issue cover.

Backus SB, Sustaita D, Odhner LU, Dollar AM. 2015. Mechanical analysis of avian feet: multiarticular muscles in grasping and perching. Royal Society Open Science 2: 140350.

Hertel F, Maldonado JE, Sustaita D. 2015. Wing and hindlimb myology of vultures and raptors (Accipitriformes) in relation to locomotion and foraging. Acta Zoologica 96: 283-295.

Sustaita D, Rubega MA. 2014. The anatomy of a shrike bite: bill shape and bite performance in Loggerhead Shrikes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 112: 485-498.

Sustaita D, Owen CL, Villarreal JC, Rubega MA. 2014. Morphometric tools for sexing loggerhead shrikes in California. The Southwestern Naturalist 59: 560-567.

Burgio KR, Rubega MA, Sustaita D. 2014. Nest-building behavior of Monk Parakeets and insights into potential mechanisms for reducing damage to utility poles.  PeerJ 2:e601.

Sustaita D, Pouydebat E, Manzano A, Abdala V, Hertel F, Herrel A. 2013. Getting a grip on tetrapod grasping: form, function, and evolution. Biological Reviews 88: 380-405.

Sustaita D, Quickert PF, Patterson L, Barthman-Thompson L, Estrella S. 2011. Salt marsh harvest mouse demography and habitat use in Suisun Marsh, California.  Journal of Wildlife Management 75: 1498-1507.

Sustaita D, Hertel, F. 2010. In-vivo bite and grip forces, morphology, and prey-killing behavior of North American accipiters (Accipitridae) and falcons (Falconidae).  Journal of Experimental Biology 213: 2617-2628.

Sustaita D. 2008. Musculoskeletal underpinnings to differences in killing behavior between North American accipiters (Falconiformes: Accipitridae) and falcons (Falconidae).  Journal of Morphology 269: 283-301.