Brian J. Enquist

Brian J. Enquist
Born	(1969-03-04) March 4, 1969 United States
Residence	United States
Citizenship	American
Fields	Ecology
Institutions	University of ArizonaThe Santa Fe Institute
Alma mater	Colorado College University of New Mexico
Doctoral advisor	James H. Brown
Known for	Metabolic Scaling Theory Macroecology
Influences	Karl J. Niklas Geoffrey B. West

Brian Joseph Enquist (born 1969) is an American biologist and academic.

Dr. Enquist is an ecologist, and as of 2009 a Professor of Biology at the University of Arizona. He is also external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He is a broadly trained biologist, plant biologist and ecologist. He is a Fulbright Fellow, has been listed in Popular Science Magazine as one of their "Brilliant 10" young minds in 2004, and was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2012.

Research

His lab strives to develop a more integrative, quantitative, and predictive framework for biology, community ecology, and large-scale ecology. His research focuses on three core areas:

(1) Scaling and Functional Biology – Understanding the origin and diversity of organismal form, function, and diversity by developing general models for the origin of biological scaling laws. This research shows how general scaling laws and allometry, underlie organismal form, function, and diversity; physiological ecology and can be used to 'scale up' biological processes from genes to cells to ecosystems.

(2) Macroecology – assessing the large scale biogeographic and evolutionary drivers of biological diversity and developing novel theoretical and informatics approaches that build from scaling principles and functional biology;

(3) Forecasting and Visualizing the Fate of Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Functioning. This work is building novel approaches to complex ecological problems – utilizing integrative computation, big data, statistical, and visualisation tools to visualize and analyze biological data and to assess how climate change will influence the distribution of diversity and functioning of forests and ecosystems.

His lab's research utilizes differing approaches including: developing theory and informatics infrastructure, field work, big datasets, scaling, empirically measuring numerous attributes of organismal form and function, utilizing physiological and trait-based techniques, and assessing macroecological and large-scale patterns. His collaborative group often works in contrasting environments including tropical forests, on elevation gradients, and in high alpine ecosystems.

Education and honors

Education

Enquist received a bachelors with distinction in Biology in 1991 before obtaining his M.S. and PhD in Biology in 1995 and 1998 respectively:

• Bachelor of Arts, Biology, 1991, Colorado College
• Ph.D., Biology, 1998, University of New Mexico

Honors

Honors Brian J. Enquist has received include:

• American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow, (2012)
• College of Science Galileo Circle Fellow, University of Arizona (2011)
• Eminent Ecologist, Kellogg Biological Station, (2010)
• International Mobility Fellow, Charles University, Center for Theoretical Study, Prague, Czech Republic (2009).
• CNRS Associate Research Fellow, Montpellier, France, (2009).
• Honorary Degree, PhD in Science, The Colorado College, (2007).
• Science Magazine – "Top 10 Brilliant Young Minds." (2004).
• National Science Foundation CAREER ‘Young Investigators’ Award (2002-2007).
• George Mercer Award (Ecological Society of America), (2001)
• Fulbright Fellowship, Costa Rica (1995-1996).

See also

• Metabolic theory of ecology

External links

• Home Page
• "New York Times" article about Dr.Enquist's work on biological scaling
• "Dr. Enquist's work on the origin of biological scaling laws featured on PBS NOVA special 'Hunting the Hidden Dimension' on YouTube
• " 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival - CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE FATE OF OUR FORESTS
• "Dr. Enquist's 2015 public lecture 'Life on Earth: By Chance or By Law?'