Dr. Robert M. Timm

  • Associate Professor Emeritus

Contact Info

785-864-1831
6026 Haworth Hall

Biography —

Dr. Timm studies the life history, ecology and conservation biology of mammals of the New World tropics. 

Education —

Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1979

Research —

Working with one of my doctoral students, Robert P. Anderson, and collaborators from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto we conducted an assessment of the species diversity and abundance of mammals in the Iwokrama Rain Forest Reserve in Central Guyana. This is one of the most remote rain forests remaining on the South American continent. This newly formed reserve was found to have an especially rich bat fauna. Numbers of species as well as individuals of predaceous bats, which are indicators of high quality forest and lack of disturbance by humans, were particularly high. The abundance of highly prized game species such as pacas (a large rain forest rodent) is also indicative of little human disturbance. We discovered 11 species new to the Guyana fauna and documented the presence of olingos in the Reserve, a species that had not been found in the country since the turn of the century. The United Nations Global Environmental Fund provided financial support for this work.

Selected Publications —

  • Timm, R. M. and S. B. McLaren. In press. Innovations that changed Mammalogy: field preparation of anatomical specimens. Journal of Mammalogy 102(1):xx–xy.
  • LaVal, R. K., R. O. Lawton, and R. M. Timm. In prep. The effect of environmental variables on nightly activity patterns of insectivorous bats monitored over ten years in a tropical premontane forest, Costa Rica (in press).
  • Bennett, D. and R. M. Timm. In press. The dogs of Roman Vindolanda, Part IV: Large sighthounds and guard and utility dogs. Archaeofauna xx:xx–xy.
  • Timm, R. M., S. B. McLaren and H. H. Genoways. 2021. The early history of netting bats. Therya 12:xx–xy.
  • Timm, R. M., S. B. McLaren, and H. H. Genoways. 2021. Innovations that changed Mammalogy: museum study skins. Journal of Mammalogy 102(2):xx–xyz
  • Ripple, W. J., et al. 2020. World Scientists’ warning of a climate emergency. BioScience 70(1):8–12. [
  • Phillips, C. J., B. Tandler, R. M. Timm, S. B. McLaren, and H. H. Genoways. 2020. Innovations that changed Mammalogy: field fixation for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Journal of Mammalogy 101(6):xx–xy.
  • Kurta, A., W. F. Frick, M. B. Fenton, P. Campbell, G. F. McCracken, R. M. Timm, and H. H. Genoways. 2020. Obituary: Thomas Henry Kunz (1938–2020). Journal of Mammalogy 101(5):xx–xyz.
  • Genoways, H. H., R. M. Timm, and S. B. McLaren. 2020. Innovations that changed mammalogy: field techniques for karyotyping. Journal of Mammalogy 101(5):1219–1221.
  • Genoways, H. H., S. B. McLaren, and R. M. Timm. 2020. Innovations that changed mammalogy: the Japanese mist net. Journal of Mammalogy 101(3):627–629.
  • Genoways, H. H., S. B. McLaren, and R. M. Timm. 2020. Innovations that changed mammalogy: the Cyclone trap. Journal of Mammalogy 101(2):325–327.
  • Genoways, H. H., S. B. McLaren, and R. M. Timm. 2020. History of the publications of the American Society of Mammalogists. Journal of Mammalogy 101(1):1–5.
  • Gardner, S. L., R. M. Timm, N. Olds, and H. H. Genoways. 2020. Obituary: Sydney Anderson (1927–2018). Journal of Mammalogy 101(3):900–915.
  • Barber, P. H., et al. 2020. Systemic racism in higher education. [Letter to the Editor]. Science 369(6510):1440–1441
  • Alexander, H. M., C. Barnes, R. M. Timm, and B. A. Sikes. 2020. Mammalian soil disturbance, plant cover, and soil nitrogen in a prairie restoration. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 123(1–2):179–190.
  • York, H. A., B. Rodríguez-Herrera, R. K. LaVal, and R. M. Timm, Illustrated by K. E. Lindsay. 2019. Field key to the bats of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Journal of Mammalogy 100(6):1726–1749
  • Timm, R. M. and S. B. McLaren. 2019. The evolution of ASM picnics. Journal of Mammalogy 100(5):1411–1414
  • Duch, C. E., R. A. J. Williams, R. M. Timm, J. Perez-Tris, and L. Benitez.  2015.  A century of Shope Papillomavirus in museum rabbit specimens.  PLoS ONE 10(7): e0132172.
  • Timm, R. M., J. L. Cartes, M. Ruiz-Díaz, R. Zárate, and R. H. Pine.  2015.  Distribution and ecology of squirrels (Rodentia: Sciuridae) in Paraguay, with first country records for Sciurus ignitus.  Southwestern Naturalist 60(1): 121–127.
  • Timm, R. M. and Z. Zahawi.  2015. Mammal checklist for Las Cruces Biological Station and surrounding areas. 
  • Timm, R. M., J. D. Schmerge, and D. A. Burnham.  2015  Dire Straits in the Ice Age—A mammoth scavenged by a wolf in the Late Pleistocene of Kansas Society of Vertebrate Paleontology International Conference.
  • Timm. R. M. and R. K. LaVal. 2014. Mamíferos de Monteverde.  Pp. 376–407.  In: Wheelwright, N.T., and N. M. Nadkarni (eds.), Monteverde: Ecología y Conservación de Bosque Nuboso Tropical. Oxford University Press, New York.
  • Maher, S. P. and R. M. Timm.  2014.  Patterns of host and flea communities along an elevational gradient. Canadian Journal of Zoology 92(5): 433–442.
  • Parlos, J. A., R. M. Timm, V. J. Swier, H. Zeballos, and R. J. Baker.  2014.  Evaluation of the paraphyletic assemblage within Lonchophyllinae, with description of a new tribe and genus.  Occasional Papers 320: 1–23.
  • Timm, R. M.  2014.  Culturas prehistóricas y pobladores de Monteverde.  Pp. 649–650, in Monteverde: ecología y conservación de un bosque nuboso tropical (N. T. Wheelwright and N. M. Nadkarni, eds.).  Bowdoin Scholars’ Bookshelf. Book 3.
  • Timm, R. M. and R. K. LaVal.  2014.  Observaciones sobre los mamíferos de Monteverde.  Pp. 394–395.  In: Wheelwright, N. and Nadkarni, N. M. (eds.).  Monteverde: ecología y conservación de un bosque nuboso tropical.  Bowdoin Scholars’ Bookshelf. Book 3.
  • Timm, R. M. and R. K. LaVal.  2014.  Mamíferos de Monteverde—actualización.  Pp. 408–410.  In:  Wheelwright, N.T. and N. M. Nadkarni (eds.).  Monteverde: ecología y conservación de un bosque nuboso tropical.  Scholars’ Bookshelf. Book 3.
  • Naples, V. L., B. M. Rothschild, and R. M. Timm. 2013. "The question of sex identification in specimens housed in research collections" Journal of Primatology.
  • Romero*, A. and R. M. Timm. 2013. "Reproductive strategies and natural history of the arboreal, Neotropical vesper mouse, Nyctomys sumichrasti" Mammalia. 77(2). 8 proof pages.
  • Rothschild, B. M., D. A. Burnham, A. R. Falk*, L. D. Martin, and R. M. Timm. 2012. "Why primates don’t fly" Journal of Primatology. 1(3). e116.
  • Pine, R. H., R. M. Timm, and M. Weksler. 2012. "A newly recognized clade of trans-Andean Oryzomyini (Rodentia: Cricetidae), with description of a new genus" Journal of Mammalogy. 93(3). 851–870.
  • Stoner, K. E. and R. M. Timm. 2011. "Seasonally dry tropical forest mammals: Adaptations and seasonal patterns" Seasonally dry tropical forests: Conservation and ecology. edited by Mooney, H. A., R. Dirzo, and G. Ceballos. 85–106.
  •  and R. M. Timm. 2011. "Robert S. Hoffmann: 1929–2010" Journal of Mammalogy. 92(2). 460–473.
  • Rothschild, B. M., L. D. Martin, and R. M. Timm. 2010. "A new spontaneous model of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva" Brazilian Geographical Journal: Geosciences and Humanities Research Medium. 1(2). 228–237.