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The degree program in Conservation Biology at Arizona State University encourages
interaction and cooperation between disciplines. People
involved in the program engage in research programs that focus on biological
processes and the application of this knowledge to the maintenance
of biodiversity.
Program Coordinators
- Leah Gerber
Research interests include field and modeling approaches to address questions at the interface of conservation
science and policy in endangered species recovery, marine reserve design, and disease and conservation. Also
investigates basic questions about populations and communities in marine ecosystems.
- Andrew Smith
Investigates behavioral ecology and metapopulation dynamics of mammals, and how these interface with conservation
biology. Chair of the Lagomorph Specialist Group of IUCN-
The World Conservation Union Species Survival Commission. Co-chair of the IUCN/SSC
Data Management Working Group, which is designing SIS - the Species Information Service, a
global biodiversity database.
Co-editor of Conservation Biology in Asia and A Guide to the Mammals of China.
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Affiliated Faculty
- John Alcock
Author of several books, including Sonoran Desert Spring, Sonoran Desert Summer, The
Masked Bobwhite Rides Again, and The Kookaburra's Song: Exploring Animal Behavior In Australia.
Also, author of the textbook Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach. Interested in issues
related to the conservation of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, including the role of cattle grazing in
desert degradation.
- Marty Anderies
Current research interests include uncertainty and robust management
of biological resources, self organizing community resource governance
and conservation, the evolution of resource governance rules, and the
role of ritual in environmental management and conservation. I am also
presently working on resilience-based management perspectives and
their application to regional agro-ecological systems, past and
present.
- John Briggs Research examines grasslands to evaluate the patterns, mechanisms and ecological consequences of grasslands being converted to closed-canopy shrub/woodland. Worldwide, the structure and function of many ecosystems are in transition due to global changes in climatic means and extremes, increased atmospheric CO2, N deposition, alterations in land management, and the spread of invasive exotic species. In the grasslands of the world, the expansion of shrub cover and forest encroachment is a widespread phenomenon.
- David Brown
Author of 20 books and edited books on wildlife (for example: Borderland Jaguars: Tigres de la
Frontera; Arizona's Tree Squirrels; The Grizzly in the Southwest; Aldo Leopold's
Wilderness), and four natural resource maps (for example: Biotic Communities of the Southwest).
Frequent author of popular articles on wildlife. Past President of the Arizona Chapter of The Wildlife
Society, Past President of the Arizona Bear Society, and current President of the Arizona Antelope
Foundation. Former "Wildlife Conservationist of the Year" by the Arizona Wildlife Federation, and
"Professional Wildlife Biologist of the Year" by the Arizona-New Mexico Section of the Wildlife Society.
- James Collins
Research interests include host-pathogen biology and the global decline of amphibians; population dynamics
and conservation of endangered amphibians; development of conservation policy.
- Thomas (Tad) Day Interested in the impacts of
climate change on plants at the physiological, population and community levels. Research is focused
on how changing temperature and precipitation regimes are altering plant colonization patterns, microbial communities and nutrient cycling in tundra. Also examining how climatic factors such as solar ultraviolet radiation impact litter decomposition and carbon storage in desert ecosystems. Teaching interests include environmental science, and ecology and climate change issues.
- Tom Dowling
Research is focused on evolutionary forces responsible for generation and maintenance of biodiversity. Especially
interested in the role of hybridization in shaping existing patterns of diversity, with special emphasis
on fishes (mostly minnows and suckers). Questions are addressed using morphological, protein, and DNA
markers, allowing for interpretation of patterns of variation in a population genetic and phylogenetic context.
Once significant units and important evolutionary processes are identified, information is interpreted in
context of management and recovery.
- Jim Elser
Involved in research with direct relevance to lake management, especially on eutrophication and the impacts of limiting nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus on aquatic ecosystems. Also interested in the ecosystem and community impacts of exotic species in aquatic ecosystems.
- Stanley Faeth
Interested in species interactions in communities and how these interactions influence diversity, a major theme of conservation biology. In terms of conservation biology, examines how microbial interactions with plants alter interaction with herbivores. Symbiotic microbes in native grasses, notably endophytic fungi, can greatly alter diversity and abundances of herbivorous insects and alter grazing of native vertebrates, such as elk and deer through production of alkaloids. Because these endophytes are seed-borne symbionts that greatly affect germination, seedling survival and resistance to drought, they also may play an important role in restoring native grasslands. Indeed, relatively poor success of restoring native grasses in Arizona may be related to ignoring microbial symbionts naturally found in these grasses.
- Jack Fouquette
Involved in studies that bear on conservation of anuran amphibian populations, as well as squamate reptiles, both in Arizona and in Ecuador. Focus is on questions of evolutionary relations and natural history of these taxa.
- Nancy Grimm
An ecosystem ecologist with interests in conservation as it impinges on urban ecosystems (how humans and other populations can coexist in these areas that are so strongly human-dominated) and river and riparian conservation, restoration, and management. Interested in how ecosystems, like rivers or cities, can best be managed to preserve the ecosystem services on which humans depend.
- Philip Hedrick
Research focuses on the conservation genetics of endangered species and the genetic bases of evolutionary processes. Recent projects have examined the effects of inbreeding and outbreeding on fitness-related characters in Gila topminnows, Mexican and red wolves, and bighorn sheep. Current projects are examining patterns of variation and factors affecting variability at major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and microsatellite loci. The MHC, whose genes are involved in immune response, are the most polymorphic loci known in many vertebrates. MHC and microsatellite variation have been examined in the Gila topminnows, desert bighorn sheep, Arabian oryx, and winter-run chinook
salmon.
- Ann Kinzig
Broadly interested in human-environment interactions and urban ecology, with a particular focus on social
and ecological processes in urban parks and open spaces, and human responses to environmental change
both in the present day and in "deep" (archeological) time. Recently co-edited a book (with Steve
Pacala and David Tilman) on The Functional Consequences of Biodiversity. Serves on the Editorial
Board of Ecosystems, Environmental Conservation, and Issues in Ecology, is a member
of the Science Advisory Board for the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, a member of
the Executive Council of The Resilience Alliance, and a member of the Ecological Society of America
Science Committee.
- Manfred Laubichler
Research covers three distinct yet overlapping areas: Theoretical Biology (conceptual and mathematical
problems related to character definition and homology), Evolutionary Developmental Biology
and Genomics (correlation of gene expression patterns with morphology, models for limb development,
problem of evolutionary innovations), and History and Philosophy of Biology. Conservation related
interests are theoretical and conceptual (modeling and the character identification problem) as
well as historical (environmental history and history of biology).
- Paul Marsh
Broadly interested in the conservation of aquatic resources throughout arid western North America with
emphasis on imperiled native fishes. Interacts with and helps bridge the gap among academia, governmental
agencies, non-governmental organizations and the public. Leader of the USFWS Desert Fishes Recovery Team,
President of the Desert Fishes Council and Associate Editor for Fishes of the Western North American Naturalist.
- Ben Minteer
Research is focused on a range of conceptual and practical issues in environmental ethics, including the philosophical
foundations of environmental values and the role these commitments play in the justification of environmental policy
goals (especially those relating to the conservation of biodiversity and public land management). Also conducts
research on the history and philosophy of conservation more generally. Recently co-edited two books, Reconstructing
Conservation: Finding Common Ground (with Robert E. Manning) and Democracy and the Claims of Nature (with Bob Pepperman Taylor).
- David Pearson
Serves on editorial board of Conservation Biology. Researches bioindicator taxa using
field observations/collections and spatial modeling techniques. Works with ecotourism societies
and local tourist businesses in South America, Southeast Asia, India, and Africa on sustainable
use of tropical forests through tourism. Author of a series of Ecotraveller's Wildlife Guides
(Ecuador and its Galapagos), Peru, Brazil-Amazon and Pantanal, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore,
Northern Mexico and Baja. Conducts conservation workshops for national students in Amazonia,
Thailand and Uganda.
- Steven Pyne
Author of 14 books (examples: Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia; World Fire:
The Culture of Fire on Earth), all of which deal with environmental history, and most of which
focus on fire - its ecology, history, and management. The suite spans every continent, with
detailed studies of the US, Australia, Europe (including Russia), and samples from elsewhere. Currently
writing a fire history of Canada.
- John Sabo
Interested in the functional roles of trees in determining vertebrate species diversity in riparian
ecosystems and the conservation of riparian corridors in the desert Southwest. Additional research
foci include food web ecology, thermal biology and theoretical conservation biology.
- Julie Stromberg
Interested in the biophysical processes that sustain ecosystem diversity, structure, and productivity,
with the overall intent of improving our ability to restore and manage ecosystems. Focused on 1)
describing relationships between river hydrology and riparian plant population processes and community
composition and diversity; 2) developing riparian assessment tools, based on stressor-response models;
and 3) conducting studies that allow implementation of ecosystem approaches to exotic species management
- Jianguo Wu Research investigates landscape issues and modeling approaches in conservation.
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Links to Faculty in related Centers at ASU
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