Read the article here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293092
Each year, the British Ecological Society (BES) recognizes 11 distinguished ecologists whose work has benefited the scientific community and society in general.
Daniel Simberloff, the Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Science in the UT Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, received an honorary membership – the Society’s highest honor – for his “exceptional contribution at the international level to the generation, communication, and promotion of ecological knowledge and solutions.”
“I have been an avid reader of BES journals since my earliest graduate school days,” Simberloff said. “My extensive research on Charles Elton led me to a greater appreciation of the leading role BES plays in shaping the direction of ecological research. I am humbled and deeply grateful that the Society would confer such an honor on me.”
Simberloff’s research focus is invasion biology, community composition, and the structure of organisms in specific features. One long-term project in Patagonia he has worked on involves invasive conifer trees and the introduction of deer, boar, and fungi. Almost a century ago, non-native tree species were introduced to a cleared section in the middle of a native forest in an attempt to establish a forestry industry on Isla Victoria, an island in the middle of Lake Nahuel Huapi. Only seven of the original species spread in number beyond the plantations.
“Our research shows that absence of suitable mycorrhizal fungi in the native forest keeps many of the non-native species from spreading,” Simberloff said. “Boar introduced in 1999, however, are exacerbating the invasion by rooting for fungal mycelium. Also, two species of deer introduced long ago may be aiding the spread.”
Simberloff became fascinated with nature during his childhood in rural Pennsylvania, but it was his time at Harvard College that got him hooked on ecology.
“I was seduced by the aesthetics and challenge of mathematics, but a non-majors biology course and an entomology course steered me back into biology and to the laboratory of Edward O. Wilson, who advised my doctorate: a test of the equilibrium theory of island biogeography with the arthropod communities of small mangrove islands,” Simberloff said. “This research and interactions with Wilson and Robert MacArthur, who served as a member of my doctoral committee, led me to a lifelong interest in the community level of organization – which species are found together, which are not found together, and why.”
Simberloff, along with Robin Chazdon, University of the Sunshine Coast, in Australia and Monica Turner, University of Wisconsin-Madison, joined the BES Honorary Membership roster, which includes British Ecologist Sir David Attenborough.
This year, there are winners across five continents, representing the international membership of the BES. Learn more about the 2023 BES award winners.
Faculty, staff and students from EEB gathered on May 18, 2023 to celebrate the end of the semester, recognize award-winners, and honor retirees. Check out this YouTube video to see all of the winners, along with some photos from the celebration.
EEB Graduate Student Wieteke Holthuijzen received the best PhD poster award at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group and also received the Chairs Choice Award for assistance in organizing the conference. Per their website, “The Pacific Seabird Group (PSG) is a society of professional seabird researchers and managers dedicated to the study and conservation of seabirds…PSG members include biologists, wildlife managers, post-docs, students and conservation biologists from 16 countries including the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan. PSG annual meetings and publications provide forums where members can share their findings on all research topics related to Pacific seabirds, and discuss local and large scale conservation issues.”
Title: Determining arthropod consumption by Laysan Ducks to inform non-target mitigation efforts during rodent eradication
Authors: Wieteke Holthuijzen, Carmen Antaky, Beth Flint, Jonathan Plissner, Coral Wolf, Holly Jones
Abstract: The critically endangered koloa pōhaka (Laysan Duck, Anas laysanensis) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands has wild populations on Kamole (Laysan Island), Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll NWR), and Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll). Although its population and distribution have increased since its listing in 1967, the koloa pōhaka faces a new risk on Kuaihelani: non-target poisoning via a pending House Mouse (Mus musculus) eradication. After mice were observed attacking and depredating mōlī (Laysan Albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis) on Sand Island of Kuaihelani in 2015, plans to eradicate mice with rodenticide were quickly developed. To reduce exposure to rodenticide, ducks will be captured and translocated to Eastern Island (mouse-free) during eradication activities. Even so, ducks may risk secondary poisoning by ingesting arthropods that feed on brodifacoum bait. Therefore, it is crucial to monitor rodenticide residue in arthropods to determine when koloa pōhaka can be safely released post-eradication. Because duck diet is unknown on Kuaihelani, we used next-generation sequencing (NGS) to identify which arthropods ducks consume. We found that Sand Island’s ducks most frequently consume cockroaches (Blattodea), freshwater ostracods (Cyprididae), midges (Chironomidae), and isopods (Porcellionidae). Notably, Sand Island’s ducks consume entirely different arthropods from ducks on Kamole, which mainly eat flies (Diptera) and brine shrimp (Anostraca, Artemia sp.). Our study adds to the literature on the biology and ecology of translocated koloa pōhaka populations by using advanced techniques to uncover their diet with a high degree of taxonomic precision. In addition, our study serves as a model for risk mitigation during invasive rodent eradications.
In Their Own Words: Daniel Simberloff https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/10/945/6612801#no-access-message
Two EEB grad students are competing in the 3-minute thesis competition next week: Jordan Bush (Simberloff Lab) and Sara Lipshutz (Derryberry Lab). This is a University-wide competition, so we are doing well to have two EEB-ers representing us! See pdf for details.
Jordan and Sara are speaking on February 26, 2018 at 3:30 p.m. in room 160 of the Plant Biotechnology Building, in the first of three Three Minute Thesis semi-final competitions. The Three Minute Thesis competition is one in which graduate students have three minutes and a single slide to explain their dissertation or thesis research to a group of judges and an audience (that may not even be familiar with the academic area). It’s a valuable exercise and a great way to showcase the amazing work being done by UT graduate students. It’s also a perfect way to start Graduate Education Week, so come by and watch the competition and support our graduate students!
Professor Daniel Simberloff is one of two UT faculty members who have earned the distinction of being among the most cited researchers in the world, according to Clarivate Analytics, formerly Thompson Reuters.
It’s the second such recognition in a row for Simberloff.
Those measurements came in relation to specific findings and papers rather than a cross-examination of all work tied to a researcher, placing Simberloff in the top 1 percent of all research scientists across the world.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the seminal Simberloff and Wilson island biogeography studies, the Bulletin for the Ecological Society of America published a special extended edition of their “Paper Trail” series in October. In this series, young researchers tell stories of how a particular paper influenced them, and the original authors of the papers in turn describe their experiences with the paper.
For this special edition, a collection of researchers, ranging from graduate students to full professors, describe how the Simberloff and Wilson 1969 papers influenced their careers. From our department, Jeremiah Henning, Jordan Bush (graduate students), Christy Leppanen (lecturer and post doc), and Kimberly Sheldon (assistant professor) all contributed to this section. Dan Simberloff and Edward O. Wilson then wrote a reflection on the original paper, complete with photographs and stories from the mangrove experiments.
A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: Editor’s Note
(overview, by Young, Stephen L.)
A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: The Arising and Established Researchers
(Authors: Henning, Jeremiah A.; Leppanen, Christy; Bush, Jordan; Sheldon, Kimberly S; Gotelli, Nick; Gravel, Dominique; Strauss, Sharon)
A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: The Pioneers
(Authors: Simberloff, Daniel; Wilson, Edward)
EEB Volunteers get Dirty Digging Roots to Help with Invasive Species Research
Christy Leppanen, Dan Simberloff, and Kimberly Sheldon pose in front of a southern Japanese hemlock, Tsuga sieboldii.
In July, a group of EEB faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students, family, and friends helped dig roots as part of a study of belowground communities associated with hemlock trees. Prof. Daniel Simberloff and Christy Leppanen (EEB lecturer and postdoc), are collaborating with Melissa Cregger (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) to characterize microbial communities associated with native and non-native hemlocks. Some of the trees are vulnerable to infestation by the hemlock woolly adelgid, but some appear to be resistant.
Distribution of hemlock species (Tsuga spp., Family: Pinaceae)
The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae or HWA) is a sap-feeding insect introduced in the 1950s from Asia to eastern North America, where it kills native eastern (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina (T. caroliniana) hemlocks. In Asia and in western North America, HWA feeds on, but does not kill, hemlocks that are native there. Therefore, aspects of communities where HWA is native and trees that are apparently resistant are studied to help understand impacts and develop management approaches where HWA is introduced.
EEB graduate students Chelsea Miller (Kwit Lab) and Angela Chuang (Riechert Lab) collect roots and soil from under an eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis.
Simberloff and Leppanen traveled with a group of 14 volunteers to North Carolina State University’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, in Mills River, North Carolina, to collect roots and associated soil from native and non-native hemlocks that are vulnerable or appear resistant to HWA infestation. From these samples, Cregger will characterize microbial communities: archaea, bacteria, and fungi associated with the different trees. The team will then meet to discuss the results and consider implications and next steps.
Kylie Hannahs digs under a southern Japanese hemlock, Tsuga sieboldii, with Chase Steele, EEB undergraduate research assistant in the Fitzpatrick and Simberloff Labs.
Microbial communities influence and can indicate associated host organism health. Microbial diversity and composition can influence large-scale nutrient fluxes across ecosystems. Loss of native hemlocks, or even HWA infestation of living hemlocks, may impact important ecosystem-level processes as a result of losses or changes to associated microbial communities. Additionally, suggested replacement of our native hemlocks with non-native species such as the Chinese hemlock (T. chinensis) may have ecosystem-level implications if microbial communities associated with the Chinese hemlock differ. Microbial communities associated with non-native “replacement” trees may not only prevent the return of native ecosystem dynamics but may also influence our native ecosystems in entirely new and unpredictable ways.
Ruth Simberloff and Frank Scott examine roots under a Himalayan hemlock, Tsuga dumosa.
Fine roots are collected to characterize microbial communities associated with different hemlock species.
T.J. Rogers, SULI Intern working with Melissa Cregger at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and EEB undergraduate researchers Jake Lockyer and Casey Fellhoelter finish work with a Chinese hemlock, Tsuga chinensis. (SULI, Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships)
EEB student workers Damon Christensen and Michael Ellison excavate under an eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis.