Robert A. Desharnais is an American evolutionary biologist who is an emeritus professor of biology at California State University, Los Angeles. His research area is population biology and ecology.

Life

Desharnais studied biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976. At the University of Rhode Island, in 1979, he earned a Master of Science degree in zoology, and in 1982 he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in zoology. His doctoral advisor was the

population geneticist Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and popu ...

Robert F. Constantino. After finishing his graduate studies, from 1982 to 1983, he was a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

. From 1985 to 1987, he was a research associate at

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

, and from 1987 to 1988, he was an assistant professor] In 1988, he moved to Los Angeles, California to work as an assistant professor at California State University, Los Angeles, and in 1997, there he became full professor. He is an emeritus professor of biology. Some of his research interests are theoretical biology, nonlinear

population dynamics Population dynamics is the type of mathematics used to model and study the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems. History Population dynamics has traditionally been the dominant branch of mathematical biology, which has ...

chaos theory Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of scientific study and branch of mathematics focused on underlying patterns and deterministic laws of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, and were once thought to have co ...

in population ecology, and the role of natural selection in population dynamics.

Selected works

*''Population Dynamics and the Tribolium Model'' (1991) *''Chaos in Ecology'' (2003)''Chaos in Ecology: Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics'', with J. M. Cushing, R. F. Costantino, Brian Dennis, and

Shandelle Henson Shandelle Marie Henson (born 1964) is an American mathematician and mathematical biologist known for her work in population dynamics. She is a professor of mathematics and ecology at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and the edi ...

, Academic Press, Theoretical Ecology Series, 2003. Reviews: *Hal Caswell (2003), "Models, experiments, and chaos", ''Ecology'', *John Vandermeer (2004), ''The Quarterly Review of Biology'', , *István Scheuring (2005), ''Community Ecology'', *Linda J. S. Allen (2007), ''Journal of Difference Equations and Applications'', *''Population Dynamics and Laboratory Ecology'' (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desharnais, Robert 1955 births Living people California State University, Los Angeles faculty American evolutionary biologists Rockefeller University faculty University of Massachusetts Boston alumni University of Rhode Island alumni 21st-century American biologists