James J. Elser

Biosketch

James Elser is a limnologist best known for his work in developing and testing the theory of ecological stoichiometry, the study of the balance of energy and multiple chemical elements in ecological systems. He was born in Portland, Maine, and grew up in Naugatuck, Connecticut. Elser holds a PhD from the University of California (Davis) (1990), an MS degree from the University of Tennessee (1983), and a BS degree from the University of Notre Dame (1981). He currently serves as Bierman Professor of Ecology at the University of Montana and Director of UM’s Flathead Lake Biological Station. He also holds a part-time research faculty position in the School Sustainability at Arizona State University where he directs the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance. Elser has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and appointed as a foreign member of the Norwegian Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2012 he received the G.E. Hutchinson Award of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), the world’s largest scientific association dedicated to aquatic sciences. During 2014-2016 he served as ASLO’s President.

Research Interests

James Elser's research focuses on developing and testing the theory of ecological stoichiometry with particular focus on the role of nutrient limitation in ecology. More recently he has extended the theory beyond ecology in the form of biological stoichiometry, with applications in evolutionary biology, astrobiology, and cancer. His current field research is aimed most intensively on Flathead Lake as well as mountain lakes of western Montana and western China. Specific studies have involved observational and experimental work at various scales, including laboratory cultures, short-term field experiments and sustained whole-ecosystem manipulations. Elser's past field sites have included the Experimental Lakes Area in Ontario, Canada; lakes of the Arctic and of Patagonia; lakes, forests, and grasslands of the upper Midwest USA and Inner Mongolia in China; and desert springs in Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert. Elser also works intensively in advancing the science of phosphorus sustainability in the food system to protect water quality and address food security.