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Dr. James 'Bo' Dame Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Science Department of Environmental Studies Sweet Briar College Sweet Briar, VA 24595 Tel: +1-434-381-6529 Email: jdame@sbc.edu

Dr. Dame’s broad background covers the fields of ecology, geology, and environmental policy.  He has a Ph.D. in Coastal Resources Management from East Carolina University, an M.A. in Marine Science from the College of William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and a B.S. in Geological Sciences from Lehigh University.  In between his academic pursuits, Dr. Dame worked for the Bureau of Land Management in Alaska, as a geologist in Redwood National Park, as resource manager in Biscayne National Park, and as a legislative fellow on Capitol Hill for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources.

Sweet Briar Courses

ENVR 101 Introduction to Environmental Issues
ENVR 131 Physical Geography: Landscapes
ENVR 133 Physical Geography Laboratory
ENVR 228 Oceanography
ENVR 316 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems

Research Interests

Dr. Dame’s specific research interests involve the effects of human activities (e.g. eutrophication, sedimentation, changing land use patterns) and physical forcings (e.g. geomorphic setting, energy regime, physical gradients) on aquatic food webs. He uses a variety of techniques to test hypotheses related to these issues including field experimentation and sampling, food-web modeling, stable isotope analysis, and stomach content analysis. The ultimate goal of his research is to provide scientifically sound information to assist aquatic habitat conservation and restoration.

Recent Publications

Dame, J.K., and R.R. Christian. 2007. Evaluation of ecological network analysis: Validation of output. Ecological Modelling, forthcoming.

Dame, J.K., and R.R. Christian. 2007. A statistical test of network analysis: Can it detect differences in food web properties? Ecosystems DOI: 10.1007/s10021-007-9068-1 (online).

Dame, J.K., and R.R. Christian. 2006. Uncertainty and the use of network analysis for ecosystem-based fisheries management. Fisheries, 31(7):331-341.

Christian, R. R., J. K. Dame, G. Johnson, C. H. Peterson, and D. Baird. 2004. Monitoring and Modeling of the Neuse River Estuary, Phase 2: Functional assessment of environmental phenomena through network analysis. UNC-WRRI Report 343-E. Raleigh, NC. 93 pp.

Down Time

Dr. Dame and his wife Heather live in Murfreesboro, NC where she is a faculty member in the biology department at Chowan University.  They spend their spare time either outdoors (gardening, birding, photography, kayaking, and just “poking around”) or following college athletics.