James Hemphill Brown (born 1942) is an American biologist and academic.

He is an ecologist, and as of 2001^[update] a Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico.^[1] His work has focused on 3 distinct aspects of ecology: 1) the population and community ecology of rodents and harvester ants in the Chihuahuan Desert, 2) 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.^[2] and 3) the Metabolic Theory of Ecology. In 2005 he was awarded the Robert H. MacArthur Award by the Ecological Society of America for his work, including his work toward a metabolic theory of ecology.^[3] Between 1969 and 2011 he was awarded over $18.4 million in grants for his research.^[1]

Education and honors

Education

Brown received a bachelors with honors in 1963 before obtaining his PhD in 1967:^[1]

• Bachelor of Arts, Zoology, 1963, Cornell University
• PhD, Zoology, 1967, University of Michigan

Honors

Honors James Brown has received include:^[1]

• American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow, 1988
• C. Hart Merriam Award (American Society of Mammalogists) 1989
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1995
• Eugene P. Odum Award for Education (Ecological Society of America), 2001^[4]
• Marsh Ward for Career Achievement, (British Ecological Society), 2002
• Robert H. MacArthur Award (Ecological Society of America), 2005
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2005

Portal

In 1977 Brown, in collaboration with Diane Davidson and James Reichman, started a research project in the Chihuahuan Desert near Portal, Arizona to study competition between rodents and ants and their influence on the annual plant community.^[5]

Books

• Brown, J.H.; Gibson, A.C. (1983). Biogeography (1st ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
• Real, L.; Brown, J.H. (1991). Foundations of Ecology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226705941.
• Genoways, H.H.; Brown, J.H. (1993). Biology of the Heteromyidae. American Society of Mammalogists. ISBN 978-0935868661.
• Brown, J.H. (1995). Macroecology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226076157.
• Brown, J.H.; Lomolino, M.V. (1998). Biogeography (2nd ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.
• Brown, J.H.; West, G.B. (2000). Scaling in Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195131420.
• Lomolino, M.V.; Sax, D.F.; Brown, J.H. (2004). Foundations of Biogeography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226492360.
• Lomolino, M.V.; Riddle, B.R.; Brown, J.H. (2005). Biogeography (3rd ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.
• Storch, D.; Marquet, P.A.; Brown, J.H. (2007). Scaling in Biodiversity. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521876025.
• Lomolino, M.V.; Riddle, B.R.; Whittaker, R.J.; Brown, J.H. (2009). Biogeography (4th ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer. ISBN 9780878934867.
• Smith, F.A.; Gittleman, J.L.; Brown, J.H. (2014). Foundations of Macroecology (1st ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226115337.