James Elser

James Elser is a research professor in the School of Life Sciences in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He investigates the theory of biological stoichiometry: the study of the balance of energy and multiple chemical elements in living systems. Elser and his international team of collaborators examine how the coupling of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus shapes the ecology and evolution of living things. To do so, they work with a diversity of ecosystems (from lakes and deserts, to hot springs and grasslands), biota (plankton to insects, and pandas to tumors), and approaches (laboratory chemostats, field experiments and mathematical models). Elser played a major role in establishing ASU’s Sustainable Phosphorus Initiative and is now director of the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance. Through these efforts, he seeks to help create a sustainable food system by closing the human P cycle. He is also the director and Bierman Professor of Ecology with the Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana.