The global extinction crisis has thrown the importance of fundamental ecological questions into sharp relief.  What are the consequences of the addition or removal of species from a community? How do permutations to the length of food chains influence the role of species in communities? Clay’s research addresses these basic questions by taking advantage of a natural experiment in the White Sands dunes of southern New Mexico. Out of the diverse suite of reptiles found in the desert immediately surrounding the dunes, only three lizards have successfully colonized White Sands. Not only have these lizards escaped most of their interspecific competitors, they have also escaped all of their major predators. Clay uses a combination of observational and experimental approaches to understand the ramifications of this dramatically shifted ecological context.