Daniel Simberloff - Work

Work

1. Studied and collaborated with E. O. Wilson with many textbooks and experimental studies to assess the theory of island biogeography. This won them the Mercer Award in 1971.
2. Was questioned after his 1976 Science paper, where he contradicted his own theory. He claimed that most of the insect turnover in this assemblage was ephemeral and did not, therefore, confirm the theory. This was interesting in the sense that he was confident enough to question his own theory even after it was widely accepted.
3. Society embraced his island biogeography, and it was used in designing nature reserves. Simberloff questioned the reserves, claiming large reserves aren’t always the best choice. In some cases small reserves might be better.
4. In the early 80’s, Simberloff took on the MacArthurian paradigm of competitively structured communities. He championed the use of null models in community ecology. This changed the face of the field. He caused ecologists to question, “what would happen if one mechanism were removed?” He preached, “rely on the data to tell you how nature operates; don’t simply find the patterns that you’re supposed to find.”
5. His more recent work focuses on the presence of invasive species, and raises the “specter of ‘invasional meltdown’”. He currently has a long-term project in Patagonia on the invasion of conifer trees, involving introduced deer, boar, and fungi. Daniel is currently also working on a book and several papers on invasive biology.
6. He was instrumental in making the presidential Executive order 13112 on invasive species, and he also serves on the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group and the IUCN Species Survival Commission. He has also served on the Board of Governors of the Nature Conservancy. He also served on the federal Invasive Species Advisory Committee, and he was serving on the editorial boards of Biodiversity and Conservation, Oecologia, Biological Invasions, BioScience and Ecology.
7. He currently is a distinguished professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee. He directs the University’s Institute for Biological Invasions.
8. He has a total of 350 publications.
9. Was a faculty member at Florida State University from 1968-1997 before taking the job at Tennessee.