James R. Karr is an American ecologist, ornithologist, conservation biologist, stream ecologist, academic, and author. He is a Professor Emeritus of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. Karr's research focuses on fisheries, ornithology, ecology, conservation biology, and water quality. He has authored and co-authored more than 250 research articles and 2 books including Entering the Watershed: A New Approach to Save America's River Ecosystems and Restoring Life in Running Waters: Better Biological Monitoring. He is the recipient of the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society Conservation Award in 2017, the 2005 Environmental Stewardship Award from the Society for Freshwater Science, and the 2004 Carl R. Sullivan Fishery Conservation Award from the American Fisheries Society. Karr is an elected Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for Freshwater Science.
Education and early career Karr earned a bachelor's degree in Fish and Wildlife Biology from Iowa State University in 1965. He went on to obtain a master's degree in Zoology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Subsequently, he received a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1970, after which he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University and at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama (1970–1972).
Career Karr began his academic career as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Purdue University from 1972 to 1975. In 1975, he joined the University of Illinois as an Associate Professor of Ecology and was later appointed Professor of Ecology. He served as Deputy Director from 1984 to 1987, and Acting Director from 1987 to 1988 at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Subsequently, he began serving as Harold H. Bailey Professor of Biology at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1988 and later became a Professor of Ornithology at the University of Virginia Mountain Lake Biological Station in the following year. In 1991, he assumed the position of Professor of Zoology, later appointed Professor of Fisheries in 1995 at the University of Washington. From 1991 to 1995, he held the position of Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies. Since 2006, he has been Professor Emeritus of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. In 2017, the University of Illinois announced an annual lecture series called the "Annual James R. Karr Lecture in Aquatic Biology and Conservation." Karr became an Elective Member of the Pan-American Section Governing Body of the International Council for Bird Preservation in 1980, He also traveled as a Smithsonian Expert Study Leader to Costa Rica, Panama, and Peru, and Lecturer on international expeditions until 2019 with the University of Washington Alumni Travel Office.
Research Karr has contributed to the fields of ecology and conservation biology by studying stream ecology, watershed management, tropical forest ecology, ornithology, landscape ecology, and environmental policy. He is known for creating the "Index of Biotic Integrity," a multimetric index (MMI) that documents the extent to which human activity has altered living systems from their natural condition in the absence of human activity. MMIs have been developed for a broad diversity of taxonomic groups including fish, insects, plants, microbes in diverse habitat types, USEPA Scientist Wayne Davis stated, "Few events can transform the nature of a discipline as has the development and application of the original index of biotic integrity (IBI)".
Works Karr has co-authored 2 books focusing on water management and conservation. In the 1993 book Entering the Watershed: A New Approach to Save America's River Ecosystems, he provided an assessment of the state of damage to rivers and species, examined issues in earlier policies, and presented a framework with specific policy recommendations. The Environmental Education Director at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in 1995, James K. Lewis remarked, "Perhaps one of the most important contributions made by Entering the Watershed is its detailed analysis and indictment of the failures of the current methods of river restoration." In the book Restoring Life in Running Waters: Better Biological Monitoring, Karr and Ellen W. Chu discussed freshwater ecosystems in the United States and emphasized the necessity of employing biological perspectives to comprehend their current state. In a review published in BioScience, academic Judith Dudley wrote, "Their book makes a case for more widespread use of integrated indexes and answers critics' concerns about the use of such indexes."
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