Brian D. Fath, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Biological Sciences
Towson University
Towson, MD 21252 USA

Office: 273 Smith Hall
Phone: 410-704-2535
Fax: 410-704-2405
Email: bfath@towson.edu

Areas of Specialization:
  Systems Ecology, Network Analysis,
  Ecosystem Ecology, Sustainability,
  Integrated Environmental Assessment.

Associate Editor, Ecological Modelling Journal.
Associate Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Ecology, Elsevier.

TEACHING
Ecosystem Ecology (ENVS 604)
Environmental Biology (BIOL 105)
Human Ecology and Sustainability (BIOL 306)
Networks: Science of Connections (IDNM 315)
Senior Biology Seminar (BIOL 486)
Senior Environmental Science Seminar (ENVS 491)
Graduate Seminar (BIOL 797)
Environmental Management and Modelling (University of Coimbra, Portugal)   Invited professor (with B. Patten, S. Jørgensen and S. Nielsen) for a 2-week graduate course.  The biennial course is open to Towson University graduate students in Env. Science (Photos).
Environmental Biology (University of Zagreb, Croatia).  January 2005.
Ecosystem Theory (Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Denmark). May 2005.
Ecosystem Modelling (University of Copenhagen, Denmark).  June 2005.
Ecological Networks (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). June 2006.

RESEARCH
The goal of my research is to understand better Sustainability Science, which I address using three different approaches:  network analysis, integrated environmental assessment, and information theory.  Sustainability Science is a critically important area that encompasses a broad range of research interests including ecosystem services, biodiversity, natural resources, human cultures, and specific environments.  I use network analysis to investigate thermodynamic sustainability indicators.  These indicators are often referred to as ecological goal functions, which are used to describe the direction of development that ecosystem properties such as energy or exergy flow, biomass production, or respiration undergo during succession.  These metrics help understand the overall behavior and health of that system and its response due to perturbations.  A main advantage to using network analysis is the ability to view the ecosystem as a connected web of interactions.  I like to think that it is a more holistic approach because it considers the behavior of individual compartments as embedded in a larger network of interactions.  I am also interested in how ecosystems interact with human systems and vice versa.  Integrated environmental assessment is an interdisciplinary and social process linking knowledge and action in public policy aimed at identifying and analyzing interactions of natural and human processes which determine both the current and future states of environmental quality.

Feel free to contact me if you are interested in these areas and are considering the graduate program at Towson University.

I have also worked each summer since 2002 in the Dynamic Systems Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria (photo).  IIASA is a leading international research institute focusing on inter-disciplinary scientific studies on environmental, economic, technological and social issues in the context of human dimensions of global change.  In December 2005, we hosted a workshop at IIASA on “Biologizing Control Theory" which was the second in a series under the title Network on Environmental Application.

SELECT RECENT PUBLICATIONS (Reprints are available upon request).

·        Jørgensen SE, Fath BD, Bastianoni S, Marques JC, Müller F, Nielsen SN, Patten BC, Tiezzi E, Ulanowicz RE. 2007. Systems Ecology: A new perspective.  Elsevier. 275 pp.

·        Swanack T, Grant WE, Fath BD. 2008. On the Use of Multi-Species NK Models to Explore Ecosystem Development. Ecological Modelling. In press.

·        Pinto R, Patrício J, Baeta A, Fath BD, Neto JM, Marques JC. 2008.Review and Evaluation of Estuarine Biotic Indices to Assess Benthic Condition. Ecological Indicators. In press.

·        Lobanova G, Fath BD, Rovenskaya E. 2008. Exploring Simple Structural Configurations for Optimal Network Mutualism. Communications in Nonlinear and Numerical Simulations. In press.

·        Casti JL, Fath BD. 2008. Ecological Complexity. In: SE Jørgensen, BD Fath (Editors), Encyclopedia of Ecology, Vol. 2 of 5, pp. 991-998 Oxford, Elsevier.

·        Fath BD. 2008. Network Environ Analysis. In: SE Jørgensen, BD Fath (Editors), Encyclopedia of Ecology, Vol. 2 of 5, pp. 1083–1088 Oxford, Elsevier.

·        Fath BD. 2008. Ecosystem Ecology. In: SE Jørgensen, BD Fath (Editors), Encyclopedia of Ecology, Vol. 2 of 5, pp. 1125–1131 Oxford, Elsevier.

·        Fath BD, Killian M. 2007. The relevance of ecological pyramids in community assemblages. Ecological Modelling. 208, 286-294.

·        Fath BD, Halnes G. 2007. Cyclic Energy Pathways in Ecological Food Webs.  Ecological Modelling. 208, 17-24.

·        Fath BD, Scharler U, Ulanowicz RE, Hannon B. 2007. Ecological Network Analysis: Network Construction.  Ecological Modelling. 208, 49-55.

·        Fath BD. 2007. Community-level Relations and Network Mutualism. Ecological Modelling. 208, 56-67.

·        Fath BD, Grant WE. 2007. Ecosystems as evolutionary complex systems: A synthesis of two system-theoretic approaches based on Boolean networks.  Environmental Modelling and Software. 22, 693-700.

·        Borrett SR, Fath BD, Patten BC. 2007. Functional Integration of Ecological Networks through Pathway Proliferation. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 245, 98-111.

·        Fath, BD. 2006. A non-thermodynamic constraint to trophic transfer efficiency based on network utility analysis.  International Journal of Ecodynamics. 1, 28-43.

·        Pawlowski CW, Fath BD, Mayer A, Cabezas H. 2005. Towards a sustainability measure using information theory. Energy. 30 (8), 1221-1231.  

·        Fath BD, Beck MB. 2005. Elucidating public perceptions of environmental behavior: A case study of Lake Lanier.  Environmental Modelling and Software. 20 (4), 485-498.

·        Jørgensen SE, Fath BD. 2004. Application of Thermodynamic principles in ecology. Ecological Complexity. 1 (4), 267-280.

·        Fath BD, Jørgensen SE, Patten BC, Straškraba M.  2004. Ecosystem growth and development. Biosystems. 77, 213-228.

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

Network Analysis of energy transportation systems: a case study of Eurasian natural gas pipeline model.  2008.  Advances in Energy Studies 6^th Biennial Workshop: Towards an holistic approach based on science and humanity. Graz, Austria 29 June – 2 July.

Long Term Ecosystem Dynamics: Can theoretical concepts of environmental change help manage ecosystem services? 2008. Ecosystem Services Workshop: Solution for problems or a problem that needs solution? Salzau, Germany. 13–15 May

Global macro-economic, energy and environmental scenarios. 2008. Center for Energy, Environment, and Health Workshop. Roskilde, Denmark. 6–7 February.

Cyclic Energy Pathways in Ecological Food Webs. 2007. European Conference on Ecological Modelling. Trieste, Italy. 27–30 November.

Marine Ecological Modelling and Assessment of the Baltic Sea Region. 2007. Symposium for Socio-environmental modelling of Baltic Sea. Uppsala, Sweden. 10 November.

Complex Ecological Networks: Structural and Functional Regimes. 2007. Center for Complexity Research, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. 29 October.

Assessing Journal Quality using Bibliometrics: An editor’s perspective. 2007. Elsevier Editor’s Conference. Miami, Florida. 20 October.

Ecological Network Analysis: Overview for application to BONUS.  2007. EUROGEN: Evolutionary and deterministic methods for design, optimization and control with applications to industrial and societal problems.  Jyväskylä, Finland, 13 June.

Identifying Ecological-Economic Relations Using Network Analysis. 2007. EcoSummit, Beijing, China. 25 May.

Control and Qualitative System Analysis using Network Analysis.  2006. Invited seminar, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, 26 December.

Sustainable Ecosystem Patterns.  2006. Modelling Socio-Natural Systems Symposium, Stockholm, Sweden, 25 October.

Ecosystem networks: cyclic pathways and indirect mutualism. 2006. Invited seminar, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 21 March.

Ecology: the network perspective.  2005. Invited seminar, University of New Mexico Biocomplexity seminar, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 15 April.

Ecosystem Patterns as a Guide for Sustainability.  2005. AAAS Annual Meeting, Science and Policy Transformations for Sustainability, Washington, DC. 19 February.

Network mutualism: Positive community-level relations in ecosystems.  2004. Department Ecology and Environmental Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. 1 December.

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Last Updated September 16, 2008