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.
Success of lake restoration depends on spatial aspects of nutrient loading and hydrology
Many aquatic ecosystems have deteriorated due to human activities and their restoration is often troublesome. It is proposed here that the restoration success of deteriorated lakes critically depends on hitherto largely neglected spatial heterogeneity in nutrient loading and hydrology. A modelling approach is used to study this hypothesis by...
Janssen, Annette B.G.; van Wijk, Dianneke; van Gerven, Luuk P.A.; Bakker, Elisabeth S.; Brederveld, Robert J.; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Janse, Jan H.; Mooij, Wolf M. Resource concentration mechanisms facilitate foraging success in simulations of a pulsed oligotrophic wetland
ContextMovement of prey on hydrologically pulsed, spatially heterogeneous wetlands can result in transient, high prey concentrations, when changes in landscape features such as connectivity between flooded areas alternately facilitate and impede prey movement. Predators track and exploit these concentrations, depleting them as they arise....
Yurek, Simeon; DeAngelis, Donald L. Modeling δ18O as an early indicator of regime shift arising from salinity stress in coastal vegetation
In many important coastal habitats, a combination of increasing soil salinization due to sea level rise, reduced precipitation and storm surges may induce regime shift from salinity-intolerant glycophytic vegetation to salinity-tolerant halophytic species. Early detection of regime shift due to salinity stress in vegetation may facilitate...
Teh, Su Yean; Koh, Hock Lye; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Voss, Clifford I.; da Silveira Lobo Sternberg, Leonel Decision-making in agent-based modeling: A current review and future prospectus
All basic processes of ecological populations involve decisions; when and where to move, when and what to eat, and whether to fight or flee. Yet decisions and the underlying principles of decision-making have been difficult to integrate into the classical population-level models of ecology. Certainly, there is a long history of modeling...
DeAngelis, Donald L.; Diaz, Stephanie G. Energetic constraints and the paradox of a diffusing population in a heterogeneous environment
Previous mathematical analyses have shown that, for certain parameter ranges, a population, described by logistic equations on a set of connected patches, and diffusing among them, can reach a higher equilibrium total population when the local carrying capacities are heterogeneously distributed across patches, than when carrying capacities having...
Wang, Yuanshi; DeAngelis, Donald L. Global dynamics of a mutualism–competition model with one resource and multiple consumers
Recent simulation modeling has shown that species can coevolve toward clusters of coexisting consumers exploiting the same limiting resource or resources, with nearly identical ratios of coefficients related to growth and mortality. This paper provides a mathematical basis for such as situation; a full analysis of the global dynamics of a new...
Wang, Yuanshi; Wu, Hong; DeAngelis, Donald L. The confluences of ideas leading to, and the flow of ideas emerging from, individual-based modeling of riverine fishes
In this review article, we trace the history of events leading to the development of individual-based models (IBMs) to represent aquatic organisms in rivers and streams. As a metaphor, we present this history as a series of confluences between individual scientists (tributaries) sharing ideas. We describe contributions of these models to science...
Jager, Henriette I.; DeAngelis, Donald L. Growth stress response to sea level rise in species with contrasting functional traits: A case study in tidal freshwater forested wetlands
With rising sea levels, mortality of glycophytes can be caused by water and nutrient stress under increasing salinity. However, the relative effects of these two stressors may vary by species-specific functional traits. For example, deciduous species, with leaves typically emerging during low salinity periods of the year, may suffer less from...
Zhai, Lu; Krauss, Ken W.; Liu, Xin; Duberstein, Jamie A.; Conner, William H.; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Sternberg, Leonel d.S.L Book review: A new view on the species abundance distribution Stochastic communities: A mathematical theory of biodiversity
The sampled relative abundances of species of a taxonomic group, whether birds, trees, or moths, in a natural community at a particular place vary in a way that suggests a consistent underlying pattern, referred to as the species abundance distribution (SAD). Preston [1] conjectured that the numbers of species, plotted as a histogram of...
DeAngelis, Donald L. A parasitism-mutualism-predation model consisting of crows, cuckoos and cats with stage-structure and maturation delays on crows and cuckoos
In this paper, a parasitism-mutualism-predation model is proposed to investigate the dynamics of multi-interactions among cuckoos, crows and cats with stage-structure and maturation time delays on cuckoos and crows. The crows permit the cuckoos to parasitize their nestlings (eggs) on the crow chicks (eggs). In return, the cuckoo nestlings produce...
Luo, Yantao; Zhang, Long; Teng, Zhidong; DeAngelis, Donald L. Conservation and restoration of mangroves: Global status, perspectives, and prognosis
Mangrove forests provide critical services around the globe to both human populations and the ecosystems they occupy. However, losses of mangrove habitat of more than 50% have been recorded in some parts of the world, and these losses are largely attributable to human activities. The importance of mangroves and the threats to their persistence...
Romañach, Stephanie; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Koh, Hock Lye; Li, Yuhong; Teh, Su Yean; Barizan, Raja Sulaiman Raja; Zhai, Lu 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
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.