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Richard Charles Brusca (born on January 25, 1945, in Los Angeles, California) is an American biologist, essayist, and novelist. His extensive scientific work spans several domains, including invertebrate zoology, marine and terrestrial ecology, conservation, animal diversity, and coastal archaeology. He is a research scientist in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona.

Education
Brusca earned his Bachelor's Degree from California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo/Pomona in 1967. He continued his academic journey, obtaining a Master's Degree from Los Angeles State University in 1970 and a PhD from the University of Arizona in 1975.

Career
Brusca is an occasional essayist, often collaborating with Omar Vidal, the former Director General of World Wildlife Fund-Mexico and a Senior Officer at the UN Environment Programme. His fiction writing spans diverse genres, including literary fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction, and magical realism.

Brusca's scholarly output is impressive, with over 200 research papers, essays, and books to his name. Notably, his comprehensive text on invertebrates, available in four languages, stands as the most widely cited work in its field, with over 5000 professional citations.

Brusca is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Linnean Society of London, and the California Academy of Sciences. He has received the National Geographic Explorer title, the Research Excellence Award from the University of Southern California, and the Science Achievement Award for a Professional Paper (PLoS ONE). Additionally, the U.S. Department of Defense recognized his service with the Civilian Service Medal.

Throughout his career, Brusca has held significant positions in academia and research institutions. Notably:
 * He served as an Assistant and later Associate Professor (tenured) at the University of Southern California from 1975 to 1986.
 * At the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, he held the position of Curator of Crustacea and Head of the Invertebrate Zoology Section from 1984 to 1987.
 * Brusca occupied the Joshua L. Baily Chair, served as Curator of Invertebrates, and directed research and collections at the San Diego Natural History Museum from 1987 to 1993.
 * As a Professor of Biology, he led the Graduate Program in Marine Biology at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, from 1993 to 1998.
 * He contributed as a Senior Research Scientist at Columbia University, New York, from 1999 to 2001.
 * Brusca held the position of Executive Director at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona, from 2001 to 2010.
 * Currently, he continues his research as a Research Scientist in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona.

Research work
Brusca's biodiversity research in the Gulf of California, which began in the 1970s, remains foundational for the region. His investigations have illuminated the intricate web of life in this ecologically rich area. Notably, he has authored numerous taxonomic papers, monographs, and phylogenetic analyses, contributing significantly to our understanding of crustaceans and insects. His work has led to the description of approximately 50 new species.

In 2015, Brusca published a seminal paper on the classification of life—an influential work cited extensively by professionals worldwide. His research challenged existing paradigms concerning the ecological impact of the Colorado River on the Northern Gulf of California. Additionally, he emphasized that the Sonoran Desert should be recognized as a "maritime desert."

Selected books

 * A Handbook to the Common Intertidal Invertebrates of the Gulf of California, (June 1, 1973)
 * Brusca, Richard C. (1980). Common intertidal invertebrates of the Gulf of California (Rev. and expanded, 2d ed.). Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0816506828.
 * Isopod systematics and evolution. Rotterdam: Balkema. 2001. ISBN 978-9058093271.
 * Brusca, Richard C.; Brusca, Gary J. (2003). Invertebrates (2nd ed.). Sunderland, Mass: Sinauer Associates. ISBN 978-0878930975
 * A Natural History of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona; with an Introduction to the Madrean Sky Islands. ASDM Press. March 7, 2013. ISBN 978-1886679481.
 * The Gulf of California: biodiversity and conservation. Tucson, Ariz: University of Arizona Press : Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. 2010. ISBN 978-0816527397.