Santa Fe Institute

Bio

Dr. James Brown is a Distinguished Professor of Biology and the University of New Mexico. His research interests include theoretical research in biological scaling and macroecology which in earlier macroecological research, we compiled large data sets on body size, abundance, area of geographic range, and other attributes of many species of birds, mammals, and other organisms. More recent research has developed a unified theory of biological metabolism and scaling phenomena. Secondly, his interests lie in experimental research in desert ecology. Since 1977 we have been manipulating and monitoring a small patch of Chihuahuan Desert near Portal, Arizona. The results have demonstrated competition within and between groups of seed-eating animals, predation by these animals on plants, several kinds of indirect interactions, and long-term changes in climate, vegetation, and animals on the site. One of his greatest passions is trying to convey his passionate interest in biological diversity and to helping young people , undergraduates, graduates and post doc’s who want to discover secrets of nature by doing original scientific research.
His students are notable for their diversity: in terms of subdisciplines (behavioral, population, and community ecology and biogeography), taxa (plants, insects, marine invertebrates, birds, and mammals), habitats (marine intertidal, tropical forests, and a variety of temperate habitats). Throughout his career he has worked to build and strengthen departmental graduate programs, most recently focusing on making the Department of Biology at the University of New Mexico a center for graduate training in "biological complexity." When not teaching, Dr. Brown enjoys vacationing in nationally and internationally visiting many relaxing cultural and historical points of interest.