Don DeAngelis, Ph.D.
Biography
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Engineering and Applied Science (Plasma Physics), Yale University, 1972
B.S., Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966
RESEARCH
Donald DeAngelis is an ecologist, specializing in mathematical and simulation modeling. He was one of the early developers of individual-based modeling (IBM) in population ecology, and has applied IBM to fish and other populations. Among his other interests are modeling of vegetation succession, nutrient cycling, mutualistic interactions, and food webs. He is coordinator of the Across Trophic Level System Simulation (ATLSS) Program, a multi-project, multi-investigator program with the objective of providing simulation models to assist Everglades restoration.
BACKGROUND
1994-present, Ecologist, U. S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Florida Caribbean Science Center, Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124 Research Faculty Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Miami
Editor, The American Naturalist, 2004 -present
Editorial Boards
Currently: Ecological Complexity
Previously: Ecosystems, Mathematical Biosciences, Ecology, Ecological Monographs, Nonlier World, Journal of Aquatic Stress and Recovery Awards Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1983 Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. Technical Publications Award, 1986 Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. Technical Publications Award, 1987 First Place, 1990 International Technical Publication Competition, sponsored by the Society for Technical Communication Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., Technical Publications Award, 1991
Grants 'Spatial Gradients in Nutrient Recycling and Their Effect on Stream Ecosystem Stability'. National Science Foundation, April 1, 1991 - March 31, 1994, $1,419,019. Co-Principal Investigators, D. L. DeAngelis and P. J. Mulholland
'Compensatory Mechanisms in Fish Populations', Electric Power Research Institute. 1988 - 1996. Approximately $1 million per year. Principal Investigator, W. Van Winkle. D. L.
DeAngelis developed the approach used and wrote the initial funded proposal 'Synthesis of Species-Population Dynamics and Ecosystem Processes: Theoretical Study of the Stability and Development of Food Web Structure'. National Science Foundation, United States - Japan Cooperative Science Program. January 1, 1991 - December 31, 1992.Co-Principal Investigators, E. Teramoto and D. L. DeAngelis. Environmental Sciences Division Scientific Achievement Award for 1982 Areas of Focus Conservation and Restoration Biology Mathematical and Theoretical Biology
Science and Products
Decision Analysis to Help Improve the Effectiveness of Invasive Plants Management
Melaleuca is an invasive tree that is highly problematic in the Everglades, threatening native wildlife and habitat. USGS is helping to improve management strategies for the invasive plant.
Joint Ecosystem Modeling: EverSnail
EverSnail, developed in collaboration with the University of West Florida, is an age- and size-structured spatially-explicit landscape model of native apple snails (Pomacea paludosa).
Assessing the Past and Potential Future Impacts of Salt Water Intrusion on Tidal Swamp Habitat along the South Atlantic Coast
Using historical aerial photogrammetry, satellite imagery, or recent vegetation mapping efforts, as well as various models, USGS investigates salt water intrusion impacts on coastal habitats along the southern Atlantic coast.
Modeling the compensatory response of an invasive tree to specialist insect herbivory
The severity of the effects of herbivory on plant fitness can be moderated by the ability of plants to compensate for biomass loss. Compensation is an important component of the ecological fitness in many plants, and has been shown to reduce the effects of pests on agricultural plant yields. It can also reduce the effectiveness of biocontrol...
Zhang, Bo; Liu, Xin; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Zhai, Lu; Rayamajhi, Min B.; Ju, Shu Mathematical models for plant-herbivore interactions
Mathematical Models of Plant-Herbivore Interactions addresses mathematical models in the study of practical questions in ecology, particularly factors that affect herbivory, including plant defense, herbivore natural enemies, and adaptive herbivory, as well as the effects of these on plant community dynamics. The result of extensive...
Feng, Zhilan; DeAngelis, Donald L. Moving forward in circles: Challenges and opportunities in modeling population cycles
Population cycling is a widespread phenomenon, observed across a multitude of taxa in both laboratory and natural conditions. Historically, the theory associated with population cycles was tightly linked to pairwise consumer–resource interactions and studied via deterministic models, but current empirical and theoretical research reveals a much...
Barraquand, Frederic; Louca, Stilianos; Abbott, Karen C; Cobbold, Christina A; Cordoleani, Flora; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Elderd, Bret D; Fox, Jeremy W; Greenwood, Priscilla; Hilker, Frank M; Murray, Dennis; Stieha, Christopher R; Taylor, Rachel A; Vitense, Kelsey; Wolkowicz, Gail; Tyson, Rebecca C Carrying capacity in a heterogeneous environment with habitat connectivity
A large body of theory predicts that populations diffusing in heterogeneous environments reach higher total size than if non-diffusing, and, paradoxically, higher size than in a corresponding homogeneous environment. However, this theory and its assumptions have not been rigorously tested. Here, we extended previous theory to include exploitable...
Zhang, Bo; Kula, Alex; Mack, Keenan M.L.; Zhai, Lu; Ryce, Arrix L.; Ni, Wei-Ming; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Van Dyken, J. David Similarity of plant functional traits and aggregation pattern in a subtropical forest
The distribution of species and communities in relation to environmental heterogeneity is a central focus in ecology. Co-occurrence of species with similar functional traits is an indication that communities are determined in part by environmental filters. However, few studies have been designed to test how functional traits are selectively...
Zhang, Bo; Lu, Xiaozhen; Jiang, Jiang; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Fu, Zhiyuan; Zhang, Jinchi Modeling the long-term effects of introduced herbivores on the spread of an invasive tree
ContextMelaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) Blake (hereafter melaleuca) is an invasive tree from Australia that has spread over the freshwater ecosystems of southern Florida, displacing native vegetation, thus threatening native biodiversity. Suppression of melaleuca appears to be progressing through the introduction of insect species, the weevil,...
Zhang, Bo; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Rayamajhi, Min B.; Botkin, Daniel B. The practice of prediction: What can ecologists learn from applied, ecology-related fields?
The pervasive influence of human induced global environmental change affects biodiversity across the globe, and there is great uncertainty as to how the biosphere will react on short and longer time scales. To adapt to what the future holds and to manage the impacts of global change, scientists need to predict the expected effects with some...
Pennekamp, Frank; Adamson, Matthew; Petchey, Owen L; Poggiale, Jean-Christophe; Aguiar, Maira; Kooi, Bob W.; Botkin, Daniel B.; DeAngelis, Donald L. Spatially explicit modeling in ecology: A review
The use of spatially explicit models (SEMs) in ecology has grown enormously in the past two decades. One major advancement has been that fine-scale details of landscapes, and of spatially dependent biological processes, such as dispersal and invasion, can now be simulated with great precision, due to improvements in computer technology. Many areas...
DeAngelis, Donald L.; Yurek, Simeon Persistence and diversity of directional landscape connectivity improves biomass pulsing in expanding and contracting wetlands
In flood-pulsed ecosystems, hydrology and landscape structure mediate transfers of energy up the food chain by expanding and contracting in area, enabling spatial expansion and growth of fish populations during rising water levels, and subsequent concentration during the drying phase. Connectivity of flooded areas is dynamic as waters rise and...
Yurek, Simeon; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Trexler, Joel C.; Klassen, Stephen; Larsen, Laurel G. Effects of diffusion on total biomass in heterogeneous continuous and discrete-patch systems
Theoretical models of populations on a system of two connected patches previously have shown that when the two patches differ in maximum growth rate and carrying capacity, and in the limit of high diffusion, conditions exist for which the total population size at equilibrium exceeds that of the ideal free distribution, which predicts that the...
DeAngelis, Donald L.; Ming Ni, Wei; Zhang, Bo Dispersal and spatial heterogeneity: Single species
A recent result for a reaction-diffusion equation is that a population diffusing at any rate in an environment in which resources vary spatially will reach a higher total equilibrium biomass than the population in an environment in which the same total resources are distributed homogeneously. This has so far been proven by Lou for the case in...
DeAngelis, Donald L.; Ni, Wei-Ming; Zhang, Bo Prediction of plant vulnerability to salinity increase in a coastal ecosystem by stable isotopic composition (δ18O) of plant stem water: a model study
Sea level rise and the subsequent intrusion of saline seawater can result in an increase in soil salinity, and potentially cause coastal salinity-intolerant vegetation (for example, hardwood hammocks or pines) to be replaced by salinity-tolerant vegetation (for example, mangroves or salt marshes). Although the vegetation shifts can be easily...
Zhai, Lu; Jiang, Jiang; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Sternberg, Leonel d.S.L
Ecological Modelling Special Edition Dedicated to USGS WARC Researcher Donald DeAngelis
A special edition of the journal Ecological Modelling has been dedicated to Donald DeAngelis, U.S. Geological Survey Research Ecologist, in honor of his 70th birthday. A a prominent contributor to the journal, DeAngelis has played a decisive role in the progression of ecological and mathematical modeling, specifically related to individual-based approaches.