Simberloff was a faculty member atFlorida State University from 1968-1997 before relocating to theUniversity of Tennessee,Knoxville. 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 inPatagonia on the invasion ofconifer trees, involving introduceddeer,boar, andfungi. Simberloff has a total of over 350 publications, and he is currently working on several papers on invasive biology.[citation needed]
Simberloff's doctoral dissertation tested the theory ofisland biogeography proposed byRobert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson,[4] resulting in a paper[5] that won theEcological Society of America's Mercer Award in 1971[6] and was included as one of forty classic papers that represented the foundations of ecology.[7] He began to be concerned that most mathematical models "more or less fit some data but had no reason to be the preferred explanation."[8] He showed that a random draw could explain some patterns having to do with islandbiota.[9] Meanwhile, a number of biologists, such asJared Diamond, began calling for island biogeography theory to be applied in conservation.[10] This became a controversy in ecology known as theSLOSS debate. In his 1976Science paper, Simberloff contradicted his own theory, claiming that most of the insect turnover in the assemblages studied wasephemeral 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.[11] A leading proponent of the theory now writes that "thespecies-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.[12]
Simberloff then took on theMacArthurian paradigm of competitively structured communities, championing the use of null models incommunity ecology.[13] Debate on the subject in the ecological literature became so heated that it inspired the name of "Tallahassee mafia" for Simberloff and his associates at Florida State University.[14] Its high points were a set of papers in a philosophical journal,[15] an entire issue ofThe American Naturalist,[16] and a published symposium atWakulla Springs, Florida,[17] that changed the face of the field.[citation needed] 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." TheEcological Society of America 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 ecologicaliconoclast."[18]
Simberloff was instrumental in the promulgation of presidentialExecutive Order 13112 on invasive species, and also serves on the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group and theIUCN Species Survival Commission. He has served on the Board of Governors of theNature Conservancy, the federalInvasive Species Advisory Committee, and the editorial boards ofBiodiversity and Conservation,Oecologia,Biological Invasions,BioScience andEcology.
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, 83-92JSTOR420777
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.[21]
^Real, L. A., and J. H. Brown.(1991).Foundations of Ecology: Classic Papers with Commentaries. The University of Chicago Press.
^Dritschilo, W. (2008). Bringing Statistical Methods to Community and Evolutionary Ecology: Daniel S. Simberloff. P. 360.
^Simberloff, D. S., (1970). Taxonomic Diversity of Island Biota.Evolution24:23-47.
^Diamond, J. M. (1975). The Island Dilemma: Lessons of Island Biogeography for the Design of Nature Reserves.Biological Conservation.7:129-146.
^Simberloff, D. S., and L, G. Abele. (1976).Science191:285-286.
^Laurance, W. F. (2008). Theory Meets reality: How Habitat Fragmentation Research has Transcended Island Biogeographic Theory.Biological Conservation141:1731-44.
^Gotelli, N. J., and R. G. Graves. (1996).Null Models in Ecology. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.
^Lewin, R. (1983). Santa Rosalia Was a Goat.Science221:636-9.
^A Round Table on Research in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. (1983).The American Naturalist122:583-705.
^Strong, D. R., Jr., Simberloff, D., Abele, L. G., and A. B Thistle. (1984). Editors,Ecological Communities: Conceptual Issues and the Evidence. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, .
