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Bruce Benz

Bruce Benz

Professor of Biology
Schollmaier Science and Technology Rm 109
817 531 6558
bbenz@txwes.edu
Website

Education:

  • University of North Dakota, BS Biology, BS Anthropology
  • University of Colorado-Boulder, MA Anthropology
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD Botany

Research Interests/Scholastic Profile:

Population Biology of Texas Endemic Plants. Asthma in Tarrant County, Texas. The origin and evolution of maize. Origins of Mesoamerican agriculture. Ethnobotany of the Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve (SMBR), Jalisco, Mexico. In situ crop plant germ plasm. Forensic analysis of Huitzilapa Shaft Tomb.

Courses taught at Texas Wesleyan:

  • BIO 2320 Biostatistics
  • BIO 2324 Evolution and Ecology
  • BIO 2124 Evolution and Ecology Laboratory
  • BIO 3470 Conservation Biology
  • BIO 3352 Supervised Research
  • BIO 4351 Senior Research
  • SOC 1301 Cultural Anthropology
  • NSC 1408 Plants and Human Affairs
  • NSC 1410 Spring Flora
Publications

Benz, B.  2001. Archaeological Evidence of Teosinte Domestication from Guilá Naquitz, Oaxaca. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA  98(4):2104-2106.

Granados, M., R. O’Kennon, B. Benz.  2001.  Plant Species-Area Relationships in Ten North Central Texas Protected Natural Areas.  SIDA 19(4):1061-1072.

Benz, B.  2001. La Domestication du mais.  La Recherche 348:25-29. Paris, France.

Perales R., H., B. Benz, S. Brush.  2005.  Maize diversity and ethno-linguistic diversity in Chiapas, Mexico.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 102: 949-954.

Benz, B.  2006.  Maize in the Americas.  In J. Staller, R., Tykot and B.  Benz (eds.), Histories of Maize.  Pp. 9-18,  San Diego, Elsevier.

Benz, B. Li Chen, S. Leavitt, C. Eastoe. 2006.  El Riego and Early Agricultural Maize Evolution.  In J. Staller, R. Tykot and B. Benz (eds.),  Histories of Maize.  Pp. 73-80.  San Diego, Elsevier.

Benz, B. and J. Staller. 2006. A Review of the Antiquity, Biogeography and Culture History of Maize in the Americas.   In J. Staller, R. Tykot and B. Benz (eds.), Histories of Maize. Pp. 665-673, San Diego, Elsevier.

Gatson, J., B. Benz, C. Chandrasekaran, M. Satomi, K. Venkateswaran and M. E. Hart. 2006. Bacillus tequilensis sp. nov., Isolated From a 2,000-Year-OldWest Mexican Shaft-Tomb, is Closely Related to Bacillus subtilis.  International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 56:1475-1484.

Benz, B. F., L. Lopez Mestas and J. Ramos de la Vega.  2007. Organic Material from the Shaft Tomb at Huitzilapa: A Macroscopic Look at Social Inequality.  Ancient Mesoamerica  17:283-296.

Benz, B.F., H. Perales, S. Brush. 2007. Tzeltal and Tzotzil Farmer Knowledge and Maize Diversity in Chiapas, Mexico.  Current Anthropology 48:289-300. 

Staller, J., R. Tykot, B. Benz (Eds.).  2009.  Histories of Maize in Mesoamerica.  Left Coast Press, Inc.

Benz, B. (2012) The Conservation of Cultivated Plants. Nature Education Knowledge 3(8):4  (http://www.nature.com/scitable ).

Rosales A., J., R. Cuevas G., S. Gliessman, B. Benz. 2014. Estructura y diversidad arbórea en el sistema agroforestal de pina bajo sombra en el Occidente de México.  Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems 17:1-18.

Arreola, M., P. Coronado, A. Hendee, M. Kirkpatrick, S. Nadolski, F. Saheb, S. Self, Y. Sharif, P. Trammell, and B. Benz,.  2015. Population Viability of Silphium albiflorum  (Asteraceae) in Tarrant County, Texas.  Post Oak and Prairie Journal.  1(3):14-18

Presentations

Benz, B. S. Golob, J. Cevallos, F. J. Santana-Michel y J. J. Rosales. 2013.  Uso legítimo medicinal de las plantas en la Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra de Manantlán, Jalisco-Colima, México.  Congreso de Botánica Mexicana, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chis., México.

Swartz, K., H. Bburbano, V. Schuenemman, J. Krause, M. Blake, B. Benz, R.G. Matson, M. Huford, J. Ibarra-Ross, D. Weigel, E. Buckler.  2014. Preliminary inference on relatedness from whole-genome sequencing archaeological maize from the American Southwest.  Society of Amereican Archaeology, Austin, TX