James Elser

Elser earned a B.S. in biology in 1981 from the University of Notre Dame and an M.S. in ecology in 1983 from the University of Tennessee. He earned a Ph.D. in ecology at University of California-Davis in 1990 working with the limnologist Charles R. Goldman, producing a dissertation titled "Nutrients, algae, and grazers: complex interactions in lake ecosystems".Elser, James Joseph. Nutrients, Algae, and Grazers: Complex Interactions in Lake Ecosystems. U. of Calif., Davis, 1990.

Elser was hired as an assistant professor at Arizona State University in 1990, where he advanced to Associate and Full Professor, and was named Regents' Professor in 2009.{{cite web |last1=Coulombe |first1=Margaret |title=James Elser joins ranks of elite faculty |url=https://asunow.asu.edu/content/james-elser-joins-ranks-elite-faculty |website=ASU Now |date=21 October 2009 |accessdate=22 December 2019}} In 2016 he moved to University of Montana, where he directs the Flathead Lake Biological Station,{{cite news |last1=Cates-Carney |first1=Corin |title=New Director Wants A 'Bigger And Better' Flathead Lake Bio Station |url=https://www.mtpr.org/post/new-director-wants-bigger-and-better-flathead-lake-bio-station |accessdate=22 December 2019 |work=Montana Public Radio |date=6 August 2015}} while remaining a research professor at Arizona State. He served as president of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography from 2014 to 2016.{{cite web |title=Past Officers and Board |url=https://www.aslo.org/about-aslo/board-of-directors/past-officers-and-board/ |website=ASLO |accessdate=22 December 2019}}

Elser's research focuses on ecological stoichiometry, how the balance of chemical elements affects ecological systems. Particular contributions include global analyses of the nutrient limitation of primary producers,{{cite journal |author1=Elser, J.J. |display-authors=etal |title=Global analysis of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation of primary producers in freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems |journal=Ecology Letters |date=2007 |volume=10 |issue=12 |pages=1135–1142|doi=10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01113.x |pmid=17922835 |hdl=1903/7447 |s2cid=12083235 |hdl-access=free }} the stoichiometry of nutrient recycling,{{cite journal |author1=Elser, J.J. |author2=Urabe, J. |title=The stoichiometry of consumer-driven nutrient recycling: Theory, observations, and consequences |journal=Ecology |date=1999 |volume=80 |issue=8 |pages=735–751|doi=10.1890/0012-9658(1999)080[0735:TSOCDN]2.0.CO;2 }} and the linkage between the phosphorus and RNA content of organisms and their growth rate (the Growth Rate Hypothesis).{{cite journal |author1=Elser, J.J. |title=Growth rate-stoichiometry couplings in diverse biota |journal=Ecology Letters |date=2003 |volume=6 |issue=10 |pages=936–943|doi=10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00518.x |doi-access=free }} This work is summarized in the 2002 book Ecological Stoichiometry,{{cite book |author1=Sterner, R.W. |author2=Elser, J.J. |title=Ecological Stoichiometry: The Biology of Elements from Molecules to the Biosphere |date=2002 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-07491-7 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691074917/ecological-stoichiometry}} co-authored with Robert Sterner. Elser has also organized Woodstoich, a series of four workshops on ecological stoichiometry for early career researchers.{{cite journal |author1=Evans-White, M.A. |author2=Cardon, Z.G. |author3=Schweitzer, J.A. |author4=Urabe, J. |author5=Elser, J.J. |title=Editorial: Emerging Frontiers in Ecological Stoichiometry |journal=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |date=2019 |volume=7 |page=463 |doi=10.3389/fevo.2019.00463 |s2cid=208619728 |doi-access=free }} The sustainable use of phosphorus is a recent focus,{{cite journal |author1=Clabby, Catherine |title=Does peak phosphorus loom? |journal=American Scientist |date=6 February 2017 |volume=98 |issue=4 |page=291 |url=https://www.americanscientist.org/article/does-peak-phosphorus-loom}} as Director of the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance{{cite web |title=Leadership |url=https://phosphorusalliance.org/people/ |website=Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance |accessdate=22 December 2019}}

• 1990 Raymond L. Lindeman Award,{{cite web |title=Raymond L. Lindeman Award |url=https://www.aslo.org/aslo-awards/raymond-l-lindeman-award/ |website=ASLO |accessdate=22 December 2019}} Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
• 2008 Fellow,{{cite web |last1=Derra |first1=Skip |title=Eight faculty members elected as AAAS Fellows |url=https://asunow.asu.edu/content/eight-faculty-members-elected-aaas-fellows |website=ASU Now |date=22 December 2008 |accessdate=22 December 2019}} American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2012 G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award,{{cite journal |last1=Collins |first1=James P. |title=G. Evelyn Hutchinson award to James Elser |journal=ASLO Bulletin |date=2012 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=60–61 |doi=10.1002/lob.201221260b |s2cid=186942044 |doi-access= }} Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
• 2013 Foreign member, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
• 2019 Member, National Academy of Sciences USA.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://flbs.umt.edu/newflbs/about-flbs/people/page-elements/flbs-people/people/jim-elser/ Homepage]
• [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4FVc21wAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Google Scholar]

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:American ecologists

Category:American limnologists

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters alumni

Category:University of California, Davis alumni

Category:Scientists from Maine

Category:Academics from Portland, Maine

Category:Scientists at University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center

Category:Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

Category:Presidents of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography