James David Bever

Dr. Bever James Bever joined KU’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Kansas Biological Survey in 2016 from Indiana University. He is considered a world leader in microbiology, especially plant-soil microbial interactions. 

Dr. Bever's research focuses on testing basic ecological and evolutionary processes occurring within plants and their associated fungi, including crop plants and restoration of vegetation on degraded lands. Dr. Bever’s peer-reviewed articles have appeared in high-profile publications including Science, Nature, and Ecology. Thompson Reuters recognized him as a Most Highly Cited Researcher (top 1%) in Ecology in 2016. 

He is a fellow of the Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ecological Society of America. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013, in 2007 he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Canberra, Australia, and he was a Bullard Fellow at Harvard in 2006. Dr. Bever received an NSF Opportunities for Promoting Understanding through Synthesis (OPUS) award in 2011.

Learn more about James Bever on the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research website