Dr James Brown | University of Chester

Programme Leader for Zoology

I have always had an interest in the aquatic environment and followed this interest by completing an undergraduate Master’s degree in Marine Biology at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University. Following this, I worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Natural Sciences at Bangor University where I taught on a wide variety of Biology and Zoology modules, with my expertise lying in crustacean and fish physiology.During this time, I also completed my PhD, where my work focussed on answering some key questions about whether intertidal species, such as gammarid amphipods, can survive climate change by adjusting to salinity change over several generations.

Alongside this, I was also involved in the NERC ‘Salinity and Ocean Acidification (SALOA)’ project (NE/J007544/1)which aimed to assess thesurvival and performance of marine brachyuran crabs under future climate change scenarios. I also became involved with a FRAM Centre OA Flagship project entitled “Natural Analogues of an Arctic in Rapid Transition (AnalogueART)” which aims to assess the vulnerability of gammarid amphipods in Svalbard to future environmental change based on current habitat preferences along salinity gradients. I joined the University of Chester in March 2019 and am hoping to incorporate my research expertise into exciting and innovative teaching.

My current teaching responsibilities include leading the undergraduate module "Adaptations to the Environment" at Level Five. I also supervise undergraduate dissertations, predominantly on animal physiology.

My research interests revolve around the physiological capacity of organisms (in particular aquatic organisms) to cope with environmental stressors, along with their associated metabolic costs and any ecological implications. My work also explores how trans-generational responses can alter the capacity of species to respond to environmental change.

I am currently collaborating with researchers from the Institute of Marine Research (IMR, Norway), the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI, Norway) and Bangor University on a FRAM Centre OA Flagship project entitled “Natural Analogues of an Arctic in Rapid Transition (AnalogueART)”. This involves research in Ny Ålesund, Svalbard and Austevoll, Norway to assess the vulnerability of gammarid amphipods to future environmental change based on current habitat preferences along salinity gradients.

Brown, J., Whiteley, N. M., Bailey, A. M., Graham, H., Hop, H., & Rastrick, S. P. 2020. Contrasting responses to salinity and future ocean acidification in arctic populations of the amphipod Gammarus setosus. Marine Environmental Research, 162, 105176.

Murie CJG*, Lebrato M, Lawrence A, Brown J, Gavard L, Bowles K, Jije M, Dicken M, Oliver SP (2023) A Mozambican marine protected area provides important habitat for vulnerable pelagic sharks. Scientific Reports 13, 6454. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32407-9

Whiteley, N.M., Suckling, C.C., Ciotti, B.J., Brown, J., McCarthy, I.D., Gimenez, L and Hauton, C. 2018. Sensitivity to near-future CO2conditions in marine crabs depends on their compensatory capacities for salinity change. Scientific Reports. Vol. 8, pp. 15639.

McCarthy, I.D. and Brown, J. 2016. Assessing the reproducibility of fractional rates of protein synthesis in muscle tissue measured using the flooding dose technique. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, Vol. 197, pp. 9-15.