Education

PhD  1981	University of Pittsburgh
BS 1974	University of Pittsburgh

Dissertation Title- A comparative ecological study of Caatingas and Cerrado chiropteran communities: composition, structure, morphometrics, and reproduction. (Advisor - Michael A. Mares)

Professional Experience

Current Positions

• Executive Director Emeritus, Institute of the Environment
• Director Emeritus, Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering
• Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Other Positions

• Adjunct Professor, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut
• Adjunct Professor, Department of Statistics , University of Connecticut
• Program Faculty, Environmental Engineering Program, University of Connecticut
• Affiliated Research Associate, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma

Relevant Employment History

• 1976-1978: Research fellow at Brazilian National Academy of Science
• 1979: Visiting Professor at LaRoche College, Department of Natural Sciences
• 1981-1983: Assistant Professor of Biology at Loyola University
• 1983-1989: Assistant Professor of Biology at Texas Tech University
• 1989-1993: Associate Professor of Biology at Texas Tech University
• 1993-2005: Professor of Biology at Texas Tech University
• 1994-1996: Director of The Institute of Environmental Sciences, Texas Tech University
• 1995-1997: Chairman of Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University
• 2000-2002:  Program Director, Ecological Studies Cluster, Division of Environmental Biology, National Science Foundation
• 2004-2006: Division Director, Division of Environmental Biology, National Science Foundation.
• 2005-2024: Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of Connecticut.
• 2006-2024: Director of the Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering at University of Connecticut.
• 2019-2024: Executive Director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Connecticut.

Research Interests

In general, my research is multidisciplinary and characterized by rigorous quantitative approaches to questions relevant to ecology, biogeography, and conservation biology, all considered from an evolutionary perspective. My investigative approach is based on both manipulative and observational experiments, as well as on modeling exercises. My research is strongly organismal in nature and is not limited by taxonomic constraints, as evidenced by publications concerning bacteria, fungi, plants, snails, insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Nonetheless, the major thrust of my research has concerned terrestrial mammals or gastropods, especially those in tropical regions.

I have broad experience conducting field research in a diversity of habitats, including both aquatic and terrestrial environments. Aquatic research has focused on phytotelmata, streams, and ephemeral lakes (e.g., playas). Terrestrial work has been conducted in semiarid tropical thorn-scrub, tropical grassland-savanna, tropical rainforest, subtropical forest, and temperate forest. As a consequence, I have had funded research programs in Brazil (USDA), Paraguay (NSF), Peru (NIH and NSF), Puerto Rico (NSF and USDA), and the continental USA (NSF).

Moreover, much of my research assumes broad spatio-temporal and synthetic perspectives as a consequence of my association with the Long-Term Ecological Research Program  in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico (e.g., over 105 peer-reviewed books, book chapters, or journal articles have been published as a consequence of my participation in the LTER Program).  Similarly, participation in Working Groups at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara has deepened and broadened the connections of my research to contemporary theory in ecology.

As my research has matured, especially during the last 15 years, substantial efforts at synthesis have been directed to research in biodiversity that is related to (1) disturbance ecology, (2) environmental gradients, especially those associated with latitude or elevation, and (3) conservation.  For example, I recently co-edited and contributed chapters to Theory of Ecology (Scheiner & Willig, 2011).  This book explores the conceptual infrastructure of a variety of ecological sub-disciplines, and integrates them into an overarching theoretic construct.  In doing so, it provides insight into profitable directions for future research, especially that which achieves more than incremental increases in the understanding of the causes and consequences of ecological patterns or processes.

Finally, I am a co-editor and contributing author on two other books that integrate ecological understanding based on research in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico.  One, Disturbance and Recovery in a Tropical Forest: Long-Term Research in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico (Brokaw et al., 2012) is a synthesis of long-term research that integrates population, community and biogeochemical perspectives to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics associated with natural and anthropogenic disturbances.  The other, Ecological Gradient Analyses in a Tropical Ecosystem (Gonzalez et al, 2012), explores environmental gradients in climatic, abiotic, and biotic characteristics that vary with elevation in northeastern Puerto Rico.  Both tomes explore ecological understanding from basic and applied perspectives,  and incorporate a mix of empirical and theoretical research.

Research Foci

Currently, my research program has a number of broad but interconnected foci.  These foci include:

• Biodiversity Science
• Community Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Disturbance Ecology
• Ecology of Invasive Species
• Landscape Ecology
• Metacommunity Structure
• Temporal Ecology

Publications