Daniel Simberloff is an American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

. He earned his Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1969. He is currently Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Science at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

, editor-in-chief of the journal ''

Biological Invasions ''Biological Invasions'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal on invasion biology published by Springer Science+Business Media. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexed in Scopus and the Science Citation Index Expanded. Ac ...

'', and a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

Early life and education

Simberloff received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1964, and his Ph.D. in biology from

in 1969. He wanted to go to graduate school for

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, but changed his mind after taking a major biology course from future Nobel Prize winner,

George Wald George Wald (November 18, 1906 – April 12, 1997) was an American scientist and activist who studied pigments in the retina. He won a share of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Granit. In ...

Career

Simberloff was a faculty member at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

from 1968-1997 before relocating to the

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. He is currently a distinguished professor there in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His more recent work focuses on the presence of invasive species, and raises the "specter of 'invasional meltdown'". At present, Simberloff has a long-term project in

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

on the invasion of

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

trees, involving introduced

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

, and fungi. Simberloff has a total of over 350 publications, and he is currently working on several papers on invasive biology.

Academic Work

Simberloff's doctoral dissertation tested the theory of

island biogeography Insular biogeography or island biogeography is a field within biogeography that examines the factors that affect the species richness and diversification of isolated natural communities. The theory was originally developed to explain the pattern ...

proposed by Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson, resulting in a paper that won the

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

's Mercer Award in 1971 and was included as one of forty classic papers that represented the foundations of ecology. He began to be concerned that most mathematical models "more or less fit some data but had no reason to be the preferred explanation." He showed that a random draw could explain some patterns having to do with island biota. Meanwhile, a number of biologists, such as

Jared Diamond Jared Mason Diamond (born September 10, 1937) is an American scientist, historian, and author. In 1985 he received a MacArthur Genius Grant, and he has written hundreds of scientific and popular articles and books. His best known is '' Guns, G ...

, began calling for island biogeography theory to be applied in conservation. This became a controversy in ecology known as the

SLOSS debate The SLOSS debate was a debate in ecology and conservation biology during the 1970's and 1980's as to whether a single large or several small (SLOSS) reserves were a superior means of conserving biodiversity in a habitat fragmentation, fragmented ha ...

. In his 1976 ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' paper, Simberloff contradicted his own theory, claiming that most of the insect turnover in the assemblages studied was

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

and did not, therefore, confirm island biogeography theory in general. In fact, two smaller areas could mathematically support more species than a single area of the same size, and he had experimental data from his mangrove studies to support it. A leading proponent of the theory now writes that "the species-area curve is a blunt tool in many contexts" and "now seems simplistic to the point of being cartoonish" when it comes to management of nature preserves. Simberloff then took on the MacArthurian paradigm of competitively structured communities, championing the use of null models in

community ecology In ecology, a community is a group or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area at the same time, also known as a biocoenosis, biotic community, biological community, ecological communit ...

. Debate on the subject in the ecological literature became so heated that it inspired the name of "

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...

mafia" for Simberloff and his associates at Florida State University. Its high points were a set of papers in a philosophical journal, an entire issue of ''

The American Naturalist ''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as ...

'', and a published symposium at Wakulla Springs, Florida, that changed the face of the field. Simberloff caused ecologists to ask "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." The

conferred on him its 2006 Eminent Ecologist Award for his "outstanding body of ecological work" and "contributions of extraordinary merit," citing him in particular for having been "the quintessential ecological

iconoclast Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

Other professional work

Simberloff was instrumental in the promulgation of presidential

Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

13112 on invasive species, and also serves on the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group and the

IUCN Species Survival Commission The IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) is one of the six commissions of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Species Survival Commission, the largest of the IUCN's six commissions, is a science-driven network cons ...

. He has served on the Board of Governors of the

Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in ...

, the federal Invasive Species Advisory Committee, and the editorial boards of ''Biodiversity and Conservation'', ''Oecologia'', ''Biological Invasions'', ''BioScience'' and ''Ecology''.

Awards

* 1971: Mercer Award, Ecological Society of America. * 2006: Eminent Ecologist Award, Ecological Society of America. * 2000: Kempe Award for Distinguished Ecologists * 2012: Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology * 2012: Elected to

The National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...

Selected publications (chronological order)

* Simberloff, D. S., & Wilson, E. O. 1969. Experimental zoogeography of islands: the colonization of empty islands. Ecology, 50(2): 278-296
Experimental Zoogeography of Islands: The Colonization of Empty Islands
* Connor E.F. & Simberloff D. 1979. You can't falsify ecological hypotheses without data. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 60: 154-155. * Rhymer J.M. & Simberloff D. 1996. Extinction by hybridization and introgression. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 27: 83-109. * Simberloff D. 1996. Impacts of introduced species in the United States. Consequences 2. * Simberloff D. & Stiling P. 1996. How risky is biological control? Ecology 77: 1965-1974. * Simberloff, Daniel, Don C. Schmitz, and Tom C. Brown, eds. 1997. ''Strangers in Paradise: Impact and Management of Nonindigenous Species in Florida.'' Washington DC, Island Press. * Simberloff D. & Stiling P. 1998. How risky is biological control? Reply. Ecology 79: 1834-1836. * Parker I.M., Simberloff D., Lonsdale W.M., Goodell K., Wonham M., Kareiva P., Williamson M.H., von Holle B., Moyle P.B., Byers J.E. & Goldwasser L. 1999. Impact: toward a framework for understanding the ecological effects of invaders. Biol. Invasions 1: 3-19. * Simberloff D. & Von Holle B. 1999. Positive interactions of nonindigenous species: Invasional meltdown? Biological Invasions 1, 21-32 * Mack R.N., Simberloff D., Lonsdale W.M., Evans H., Clout M. & Bazzaz F.A. 2000. Biotic invasions: causes, epidemiology, global consequences, and control. Ecol. Appl. 10: 689-710. * Myers J.H., Simberloff D., Kuris A.M. & Carey J.R. 2000. Eradication revisited: dealing with exotic species. Trends Ecol. Evol. 15: 316-320. * Myers J., Simberloff D., Kuris A. & Carey J. 2000. Eradication of exotic species - Reply. Trends Ecol. Evol. 15: 515-516. * Ricciardi A., Steiner W.W.M., Mack R.N. & Simberloff D. 2000. Toward a global information system for invasive species. BioScience 50: 239-244. * Simberloff D. 2000. Global climate change and introduced species in United States forests. The Science of the Total Environment 262: 253-261. * Simberloff D. 2000. Foreword. p. vii-xiv in Elton C.S.(ed.) The ecology of invasions by animals and plants. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. * Lockwood J.L., Simberloff D., McKinney M.L. & von Holle B. 2001. How many, and which, plants will invade natural areas? Biol. Invasions 3: 1-8. * Simberloff D. 2001. Inadequate solutions for a global problem? Trends Ecol. Evol. 16: 323-324. * Simberloff D. 2001. Eradication of island invasives: practical actions and results achieved. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16: 273-274. * Thébaud C. & Simberloff D. 2001. Are plants really larger in their introduced ranges? The American Naturalist 157: 231-236. * Rejmánek M., Richardson D.M., Barbour M.G., Crawley M.J., Hrusa G.F., Moyle P.B., Randall J.M., Simberloff D. & Williamson M. 2002. Biological invasions: politics and the discontinuity of ecological terminology. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 83: 131-133. * Simberloff D. 2002. Managing existing populations of alien species. In: Alien Invaders in Canada’s Waters, Wetlands, and Forests (eds. R. Claudi, P. Nantel & E. Muckle-Jeffs). Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Ottawa * Simberloff, D., Relva, M. A. & Nuñez, M. A. 2002. Gringos en el bosque: introduced tree invasion in a native Nothofagus/ Austrocedurs forest. Biological Invasions 4: 35-53 * Simberloff D. 2003. How much information on population biology is needed to manage introduced species? Conservation Biology 17, 83-92 * Simberloff D. 2004. A rising tide of species and literature: a review of some recent books on biological invasions. BioScience 54: 247-254. * Simberloff D. 2005. The politics of assessing risk for biological invasions: the USA as a case study. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20: 216-222. * Simberloff D., Parker I. M. & Windle P. N. (2005) Introduced species policy, management, and future research needs. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3, 12-20 * Simberloff D. 2006. Invasional meltdown six years later: important phenomenon, unfortunate metaphor, or both? Ecol. Letters 9: 912-919. * Vitule J.R.S., Freire C.A. & Simberloff D. 2009. Introduction of non-native freshwater fish can certainly be bad. Fish. Fisheries 10: 98-108. * Roll U., Dayan T., Simberloff D. & Goren M. 2007. Characteristics of the introduced fish fauna of Israel. Biol. Invasions 9: 813-824. * Simberloff D. & Rejmánek M. (eds.) 2011. Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions. University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles
Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions
* Simberloff D. et al. 2013. Impacts of biological invasions: what's what and the way forward Trends in Ecology & Evolution 28: 58-66. * Simberloff D. 2013. Biological invasions: Much progress plus several controversies. ''Contributions to Science'' 9: 7-16
Biological invasions: Much progress plus several controversies

References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simberloff, Daniel American ecologists People from Knoxville, Tennessee 1942 births Living people Harvard University alumni University of Tennessee faculty Winners of the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology Fellows of the Ecological Society of America Ecology journal editors Presidents of the American Society of Naturalists