Ford Ballantyne IV

Background: Dr. Ballantyne received a B.S. in Zoology in 1997 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a M.S. in Statistics (1999) and Ph.D. in Biology (2003) from the University of New Mexico.  Dr. Ballantyne held two postdoctoral research positions--at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and at Princeton University--before coming to KU.

Current research interests: Dr. Ballantyne is interested in understanding repeated patterns seen in nature. Using mathematical models with firm empirical foundation, he studies changes in abundance, community structure and ecosystem function across space and through time. In particular, he has focused on mean-variance scaling of population abundance, the relationship between trophic structure and biomass flow in community food webs and regulation of nutrient dynamics and stoichiometry in ecosystems. Model development and refinement are the core activities in his la, but he is initiating an experimental research program to complement the theoretical study of element cycles and ecosystem stoichiometry.