GO TOP

Field

Ecological Developmental Adaptability Life Sciences :
Ecological Dynamics

Research

Associate Professor KASS Jamie M.
Campus Aobayama campus
Laboratory Macroecology
Tel +81-22-795-6690
E-mail kass.jamie.michael.c6@tohoku.ac.jp
Google Scholar
 
Researchmap
 
I am a biologist who researches where species are found, why they are found where they are, and where they might be in the future. Another of my research themes is how biodiversity should be measured and valued. I was born and raised in New York City, USA, and spent my childhood reading books about animals. From the start of my Ph.D. until the present, I have researched how individual species and biodiversity as a whole change over space and time, and also how the actions of humans affect these patterns. Although I am most knowledgeable about mammals, I have worked on many different taxa and enjoy learning about new systems. I also like ping pong, coffee, hiking, and playing with my two sons.
Career
◆ 2023–present    Associate Professor, Tohoku University    
◆ 2022–2023    Postdoctoral Scholar, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
◆ 2022         Ecological Society of Japan Young Scholar Award (Suzuki Award)
◆ 2020–2022    JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (standard), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
◆ 2019–2020    JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (short-term), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
◆ 2013–2019    Ph.D. in Biology, City University of New York, USA
◆ 2009–2013    Geospatial Information Systems Analyst, San Francisco Estuary Institute, USA
◆ 2005–2007    Masters in Environmental Management (MEM), Duke University, North Carolina, USA
◆ 2000–2004    B.S. in Biology, B.A. in English, State University of New York at Binghamton, USA
 
Selected Publications
•  Kass, J. M., Pinilla-Buitrago, G. E., Paz, A., Johnson, B. A., Grisales-Betancur, V., Meenan, S. I., Attali, D., Broennimann, O., Galante, P. J., Maitner, B. S., Owens, H. L., Varela, S., Aiello‐Lammens, M. E., Merow, C., Blair, M. E., & Anderson, R. P. (2023). wallace 2: a shiny app for modeling species niches and distributions redesigned to facilitate expansion via module contributions. Ecography, e06547. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.06547
 Kass, J. M., Guénard, B., Dudley, K. L., Jenkins, C. N., Azuma, F., Fisher, B. L., Parr, C. L., Gibb, H., Longino, J. T., Ward, P. S., Chao, A., Lubertazzi, D., Weiser, M., Jetz, W., Guralnick, R., Blatrix, R., Lauriers, J. D., Donoso, D. A., Georgiadis, C., Gomez, K., Hawkes, P. G., Johnson, R. A., Lattke, J. E., MacGown, J. A., MacKay, W., Robson, S., Sanders, N. J., Dunn, R. R., & Economo, E. P. (2022). The global distribution of known and undiscovered ant biodiversity. Science Advances, 8: eabp9908. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abp9908
•  Kass, J. M., Muscarella, R., Galante, P. J., Bohl, C., Pinilla-Buitrago, G. E., Boria, R. A., Soley‐Guardia, M., & Anderson, R. P. (2021). ENMeval 2.0: redesigned for customizable and reproducible modeling of species’ niches and distributions. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 12: 1602 – 1608. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13628
•  Kass, J. M., Meenan, S. I., Tinoco, N., Burneo, S. F., & Anderson, R. P. (2021). Improving area of occupancy estimates for parapatric species using distribution models and support vector machines. Ecological Applications, 31: e02228. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2228
•  Kass, J. M., Anderson, R. P., Espinosa‐Lucas, A., Juárez‐Jaimes, V., Martínez‐Salas, E., Botello, F., Taverna, G., Flores-Martínez, J. J., & Sánchez‐Cordero, V. (2020). Biotic predictors with phenological information improve range estimates for migrating monarch butterflies in Mexico. Ecography, 43(3), 341-352. Editor's Choice.
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.04886
•  Kass, J. M., Tingley, M. W., Tetsuya, T., & Koike, F. (2020). Co-occurrence of invasive and native carnivorans affects occupancy patterns across environmental gradients. Biological Invasions, 22: 2251 – 2266.
Activities in Academic Societies
International Biogeography Society, Ecological Society of Japan, Ecological Society of America, American Society of Mammalogists

Recent Activities

A) Migration range predictions for the monarch butterfly in Mexico based on climatic variables and those describing species interactions. B) Species distribution models for sloths with differing complexity built with the R package ENMeval. C) Learning about species distribution modeling analyses focusing on the olinguito using the Wallace application. D) Ant richness and rarity predictions at the global scale.

Message to Students

I welcome motivated students who want to work in a bilingual environment on fun and challenging projects that involve ecology, modeling, mapping, and coding.