Brian A. Maurer
Associate
Professor
Michigan State
University
Department of
Fisheries & Wildlife
Department of
Geography
Address: 334E
Phone: (517) 353-9478
Fax: (517) 432-1699
Email: maurerb@msu.edu
Education BS, Zoology,
MS,
Wildlife Management,
MS,
Statistics,
PhD,
Wildlife Ecology,
Research Interests: Macroecology,
Biogeography, Quantitative Ecology
Ecology is understood to be the study
of phenomena that occur on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. My
interest focuses on the largest spatial and longest temporal scales studied by
ecologists. To understand the importance
of processes at geographical scales, it is important to understand how they
connect to local scale processes. Thus,
I am interested in modeling population and community dynamics in a geographical
context. I am working with a variety of
vertebrate organisms to model how population dynamics and abundance vary from
one place to the next within their geographical ranges. These focal questions, however, give rise to
a number of different ancillary questions regarding such things as the
ecological and evolutionary importance of body size, geographic patterns of
species diversity, and resource use behavior.
Modeling ecological systems in space and time is a major tool that I use
to answer questions about geographic scale ecological processes. To this end, my lab uses a variety of
quantitative and computational technologies. We intensively use geographical
information systems (GIS) to analyze and model spatial processes. Spatial statistics and related techniques
from geostatistics provide the analytical framework
for many of our statistical analyses.
Finally, use of nonlinear and spatially explicit mathematical modeling
techniques allows us to develop theoretical approaches to large scale
ecological systems.
Recent Publications
and Manuscripts
Maurer, B.A. 2004.
Statistical mechanics of complex ecological aggregates. ms
Ernest, S.K.M., B.J. Enquist, J.H. Brown, E.L. Charnov,
J.F. Gillooly, V.M. Savage, E.P. White, F.A. Smith,
E.A. Hadly, J.P. Haskell, S.K. Lyons, B.A. Maurer,
K.J. Niklas, and B. Tiffney. 2003.
Thermodynamic and metabolic effects on the scaling of production and
population energy use. Ecology Letters 6: 990-995.
Maurer, B.A., and M.L. Taper. 2002.
Connecting geographical distributions with population processes. Ecology Letters 5: 223-231.
Gammon, D.E., and B.A. Maurer. 2002.
Evidence for non-uniform dispersal in the biological invasions of two
naturalized North American bird species.
Global Ecology and Biogeography
11:155-161.
Maurer, B.A. 2002.
Big thinking. Nature 415:489-491
Hadly, E. A., and B.A. Maurer. 2001. Spatial and temporal patterns of species diversity in montane mammal communities of western North America. Evolutionary Ecology Research 3:477-486.
Barnosky, A.D., E.A. Hadly,
B.A. Maurer, and M.I. Christie.
2001. Temperate terrestrial
vertebrate faunas in North and South America: interplay of ecology, evolution,
and geography with biodiversity. Conservation Biology 15:658-674.
Maurer, B.A. 2000. Macroecology and consilience. Global Ecology and
Biogeography 9:275-280.
Maurer, B.A. 1998. Ecological science and statistical paradigms:
at the threshold. Science 279:502-
Books
Maurer, B.A. 1999. Untangling ecological complexity: the
macroscopic perspective. University of
Chicago Press, Chicago.
Maurer, B. A. 1994. Geographical
population analysis: tools for the analysis of biodiversity.
Blackwell Scientific Publications,
Boston.
Presentations
Students in the Maurer Lab
Katie Kahl – M.S./Ph.D. – Status of Blue- and Golden-Winged
Warblers in
Genny
Nesslage – Ph.D. – Determinants
of Range Expansion Velocity
Jennie Skillen
– Ph.D. – Extinction Risk of Populations and
Species
Funding and Collaborating Agencies
National Center for
Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
Michigan
Department of Natural Resources
Michigan Natural
Features Inventory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency