C. Richard Tracy

Who is C. Richard Tracy?

C. Richard Tracy is an American biologist, a professor of biology at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Tracy earned bachelors and masters degrees in biology at California State University, Northridge in 1966 and 1968, and then moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a Ph.D. in Zoology in 1972. After postdoctral studies in Madison, he held a faculty position at Colorado State University from 1974 to 1995, when he moved to the University of Nevada, Reno. In 1980, Tracy visited the University of Washington in Seattle as a Guggenheim Fellow.

Tracy's research] includes physiological ecology and biophysical ecology as well as population biology and conservation biology largely of reptiles and amphibians. His modeling research on the biophysical ecology of amphibians is considered foundational to our understanding of the ways in which amphibians interact with their physical environments. He has also conducted research on reptilian herbivores including Galapagos Land Iguana, Chuckwallas, and the federally listed desert tortoise. He has served on the desert tortoise recovery team, and chaired the assessment committee for the U.S. government's desert tortoise recovery plan.