Ecologist Honored

Perspectives: Research and Creative Activities at SIUC, Spring 2008

:: research survey ::

Ecologist Honored

Plant biology professor David Gibson was named the 2008 Outstanding Scholar at SIUC.

Gibson's research focuses on grassland ecology. His work on the Konza Prairie in Kansas, a key fieldwork site in this discipline, revealed the long-term effects on fire on grasslands and is widely cited by other researchers. Gibson later showed his findings had ramifications for the overall management of tall-grass prairie, and in Illinois he has shown how the effects of fire are important for grasslands restoration and management.

The spring 2007 issue of Perspectives highlighted an ongoing project with Sara Baer, SIUC assistant professor of plant biology, and a team of students to study prairie restoration for what it can reveal about underlying ecological principles (see www.siu.edu/~perspect/07_sp/prairie.html).

Gibson also studies the interactions between plant species and other organisms. In his latest research, he has focused on the contrasting ecology of rare and invasive species.

During his 25 years as a researcher, Gibson has published a critically acclaimed book, Methods in Comparative Plant Population, and nearly 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and books. His articles have appeared in some of the most prestigious in the science community—Ecology, Journal of Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, and Global Change Biology, among others.

His work has been supported by more than $1.5 million in grants from local, state, and federal sources, including the National Science Foundation.

Gibson earned his doctorate in 1985 at the University of Wales, Bangor, United Kingdom, where he studied with P. Greig-Smith, an international authority on ecological theory. He did postdoctoral work at the Division of Pinelands Research in 1985 at Rutgers University.

He was a research associate at Kansas State University in 1986 and staff scientist for the International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project examining the Konza Prairie in 1987. He joined SIUC in 1992, becoming a full professor in 2000. Much of his work has involved international collaborations.

Gibson is also currently co-director of SIUC's Center for Ecology.

—by Tim Crosby