Dr. Peter Brussard 
Professor
Population and conservation biology; biogeography of the Great Basin 

Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA , 1960, A.B. History
University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
1966, M.S. Zoology
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
1969, Ph.D. Biology

Current Projects / Research Interest
My research interests are in (1) the ecology and biogeography of the Great Basin, (2) ecosystem management, and (3) the effects of global change. My research on the ecology and biogeography of the Great Basin includes assembling data on the distribution of plant communities, vertebrates, and selected invertebrates and plants and mapping them in a geographic information system. These data are currently being analyzed to test Holling's proposition that a small set of species and biotic and abiotic processes structure ecosystems across scales of time and space. This research also involves developing bioassays of ecosystem structure at different temporal and spatial scales. My research group is working with various management agencies including the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to develop realistic protocols for ecosystem management and to implement several demonstration projects. Our goal is to manage areas in ways that will conserve biotic diversity and ecosystem services while at the same time preserve options for human use and livelihood. The first focus of global change research is on stable isotope analysis of fossil and modern bone collagen to determine how grazing mammals responded to climate change during the Holocene. The second is on the effects of current land and water use change on species extinctions. Examples include population viability analysis of Lahontan cutthroat trout and the effects of mine closures on bat populations.

Selected Publications
Britten, H.B., B.R. Riddle, P.F. Brussard, R. Marlow, and T.E. Lee, Jr. 1997. Genetic delineation of management units for the desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, in the Northeastern Mojave Desert. Copeia 1997: 523-530.

Brussard, P.F., J.M. Reed, and C.R. Tracy. 1998. Ecosystem management: what is it really? Landscape and Urban Planning 40: 9-20.

Reed, J.M., D.D. Murphy, and P.F. Brussard. 1998. Efficacy of population viability analysis. Wildlife Society Bulletin 26: 244-251.

Fleishman, E., G.T. Austin, P.F. Brussard and D.D. Murphy. 1999. A comparison of butterfly communities in native and agricultural riparian habitats in the Great Basin. Biological Conservation 89:209-218.

Fleishman, E., D.D. Murphy, and P.F. Brussard. 2000. A new method for selecting umbrella species for conservation planning. Ecological Applications 10: 569-579.

Boone, J.D., K.C. McGwire, E.W. Otteson, R.S. DeBaca, E.A. Kuhn, P. Villard, P.F. Brussard, and S.C. St.Jeor. 2000. Remote sensing and geographic information systems: Charting sin nombre virus infections in deer mice. Emerging Infectious Diseases 6: 248-258.

Beever, E.A., and P.F. Brussard. 2000. Examining ecological consequences of feral horse grazing using exclosures. Western North American Naturalist 60: 236-254.

Simpkin, J., H.B. Britten, and P.F. Brussard. 2000. Effects of habitat fragmentation and mobility on the population structures of a Great Basin dragonfly (Sympetrum corruptum) and damselfly (Enallagma carunculatum). Western North American Naturalist 60: 320-332.

Additional Links
Biological Resources Research Center
Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program

Contact Information

University of Nevada, Reno
Biology Department m/s 314
Reno, NV 89557

email Peter Brussard

Office phone
775-784-6188
FAX number
775-784-1302