Don DeAngelis, Ph.D.
Don DeAngelis is a Senior Scientist and Research Ecologist at the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center.
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
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Engineering and Applied Science (Plasma Physics), Yale University, 1972
B.S., Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966
Science and Products
The practice of prediction: What can ecologists learn from applied, ecology-related fields?
Spatially explicit modeling in ecology: A review
Persistence and diversity of directional landscape connectivity improves biomass pulsing in expanding and contracting wetlands
Effects of diffusion on total biomass in heterogeneous continuous and discrete-patch systems
Dispersal and spatial heterogeneity: Single species
Application of a coupled vegetation competition and groundwater simulation model to study effects of sea level rise and storm surges on coastal vegetation
Bistability of mangrove forests and competition with freshwater plants
Prediction of plant vulnerability to salinity increase in a coastal ecosystem by stable isotopic composition (δ18O) of plant stem water: a model study
Modeling apple snail population dynamics on the Everglades landscape
Defining the next generation modeling of coastal ecotone dynamics in response to global change
Effects of dispersal on total biomass in a patchy, heterogeneous system: Analysis and experiment
Equation-free modeling unravels the behavior of complex ecological systems
Science and Products
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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 confidence and communicate these predictions to policy maAuthorsFrank Pennekamp, Matthew Adamson, Owen L Petchey, Jean-Christophe Poggiale, Maira Aguiar, Bob W. Kooi, Daniel B. Botkin, Donald L. DeAngelisSpatially 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 of modeling have shifted toward a focus on capturiAuthorsDonald L. DeAngelis, Simeon YurekPersistence 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 fall, and is largely determined by landscape geomorphoAuthorsSimeon Yurek, Donald L. DeAngelis, Joel C. Trexler, Stephen Klassen, Laurel G. LarsenEffects 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 total population would equal the total carrying capacitAuthorsDonald L. DeAngelis, Wei Ming Ni, Bo ZhangDispersal 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 which the reaction term has only one parameter, m(x)m(xAuthorsDonald L. DeAngelis, Wei-Ming Ni, Bo ZhangApplication of a coupled vegetation competition and groundwater simulation model to study effects of sea level rise and storm surges on coastal vegetation
Global climate change poses challenges to areas such as low-lying coastal zones, where sea level rise (SLR) and storm-surge overwash events can have long-term effects on vegetation and on soil and groundwater salinities, posing risks of habitat loss critical to native species. An early warning system is urgently needed to predict and prepare for the consequences of these climate-related impacts onAuthorsSu Yean Teh, Michael Turtora, Donald L. DeAngelis, Jiang Jiang, Leonard G. Pearlstine, Thomas J. Smith, Hock Lye KohBistability of mangrove forests and competition with freshwater plants
Halophytic communities such as mangrove forests and buttonwood hammocks tend to border freshwater plant communities as sharp ecotones. Most studies attribute this purely to underlying physical templates, such as groundwater salinity gradients caused by tidal flux and topography. However, a few recent studies hypothesize that self-reinforcing feedback between vegetation and vadose zone salinity areAuthorsJiang Jiang, Douglas O Fuller, Su Yean Teh, Lu Zhai, Hock Lye Koh, Donald L. DeAngelis, L.D.S.L. SternbergPrediction 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 monitored by satellite imagery, it is hard to predict aAuthorsLu Zhai, Jiang Jiang, Donald L. DeAngelis, Leonel d.S.L SternbergModeling apple snail population dynamics on the Everglades landscape
Context The Florida Everglades has diminished in size and its existing wetland hydrology has been altered. The endangered snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) has nearly abandoned the Everglades, and its prey, the apple snail (Pomacea paludosa), has declined. Objective We developed a population model (EverSnail) to understand apple snail response to inter- and intra-annual fluctuations in water deptAuthorsPhil Darby, Donald L. DeAngelis, Stephanie S. Romañach, Kevin J. Suir, Joshua L. BridevauxDefining the next generation modeling of coastal ecotone dynamics in response to global change
Coastal ecosystems are especially vulnerable to global change; e.g., sea level rise (SLR) and extreme events. Over the past century, global change has resulted in salt-tolerant (halophytic) plant species migrating into upland salt-intolerant (glycophytic) dominated habitats along major rivers and large wetland expanses along the coast. While habitat transitions can be abrupt, modeling the specificAuthorsJiang Jiang, Donald L. DeAngelis, Su-Y Teh, Ken W. Krauss, Hongqing Wang, Li Haidong, Thomas J. Smith, Hock L. KohEffects of dispersal on total biomass in a patchy, heterogeneous system: Analysis and experiment
An intriguing recent result from mathematics is that a population diffusing at an intermediate 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. We extended the current mathematical theory to apply to logistic growth and also showed that the reAuthorsBo Zhang, Xin Liu, Donald L. DeAngelis, Wei-Ming Ni, G Geoff WangEquation-free modeling unravels the behavior of complex ecological systems
Ye et al. (1) address a critical problem confronting the management of natural ecosystems: How can we make forecasts of possible future changes in populations to help guide management actions? This problem is especially acute for marine and anadromous fisheries, where the large interannual fluctuations of populations, arising from complex nonlinear interactions among species and with varying envirAuthorsDonald L. DeAngelis, Simeon Yurek - News