James Brown (ecologist)
Encyclopedia
James Hemphill Brown is an American biologist and academic.
He is an ecologist
, and a Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico
. His work has focused on two distinct aspects of ecology: the population
and community ecology of rodents and harvester ants in the Chihuahuan Desert
and large-scale questions relating to the distribution of body size, abundance and geographic range of animals, leading to the development of the field of macroecology
, a term that was coined in a paper Brown co-authored with Brian Maurer of Michigan State University
.
He is an ecologist
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, and a Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
. His work has focused on two distinct aspects of ecology: the population
Population ecology
Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. It is the study of how the population sizes of species living together in groups change over time and space....
and community ecology of rodents and harvester ants in the Chihuahuan Desert
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert, and an ecoregion designation, that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border in the central and northern portions of the Mexican Plateau, bordered on the west by the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental range, and overlaying northern portions of the east range, the Sierra...
and large-scale questions relating to the distribution of body size, abundance and geographic range of animals, leading to the development of the field of macroecology
Macroecology
Macroecology is the subfield of ecology that deals with the study of relationships between organisms and their environment at large spatial scales to characterise and explain statistical patterns of abundance, distribution and diversity...
, a term that was coined in a paper Brown co-authored with Brian Maurer of Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
.
Education and honors
- Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, Zoology, 1963, Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
- Ph.D.Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, Zoology, 1967, University of Michigan
- American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow, 1988
- Member of the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
- Robert H. MacArthur Award (Ecological Society of America)
Portal
In 1977 Brown, in collaboration with Diane Davidson and James Reichman, started a research project in the Chihuahuan desert near Portal, AZ to study competition between rodents and ants and their influence on the annual plant community.Publications
- Brown, J.H. and A.C. Gibson. 1983. Biogeography. Mosby, St. Louis, MO.
- Real, L., and J. H. Brown, eds. 1991. Foundations of Ecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
- Genoways, H.H., and J.H. Brown, eds. 1993. Biology of the Heteromyidae. Special Publication No. 10, American Society of Mammalogists.
- Brown, J.H. 1995. Macroecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
- Brown, J.H. and M.V. Lomolino. 1998. Biogeography (2nd edition). Sinauer, Sunderland, MA.
- Brown, J.H., and G.B. West, eds. 2000. Scaling in Biology. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Lomolino, M.V., D.F. Sax, and J.H. Brown, eds. 2004. Foundations of Biogeography. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
- Lomolino, M.V., B.R. Riddle, and J.H. Brown. 2005. Biogeography (3rd edition). Sinauer, Sunderland, MA.