David Duffy
Encyclopedia
David Cameron Duffy is Professor of Botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 and Zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 at the University of Hawai'i and Director of the Hawaiian Pacific Island Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.

Duffy received his Ph.D. from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1980. Duffy is the author of over 100 scientific publications and the founding editor of the journal Waterbirds. In addition, he was editor of Colonial Waterbirds from 1997-2000. His research has involved how species, ecosystems and landscapes recover from perturbations, both man-made and natural.

After graduating from Princeton, he became a resident scientist in Galapagos, but was asked to take on the job of interim director of the Charles Darwin Station, when it faced closing because of a budget deficit and conflict with Ecuadorian authorities. He found funding and restored relations with the Ecuadorians, while finding time to do some research. He then moved to the University of Cape Town where he ran the seabird component of the Benguela Ecology Project, again producing research on seabirds and their interactions with fisheries (e.g. http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/UHBotany/pdf/20090824141131.pdf. ,http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/UHBotany/pdf/20090824141017.pdf. At the same time, he and his colleagues began research in the Chilean sector of the Humboldt upwelling (http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/papers/1989_Seabird_Foraging_Aggregations.pdf, http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/papers/1995_ASPECTS_OF_THE_ECOLOGY.pdf). In addition, he began simple models of upwelling trophic relations that were to predate many non-linear models for marine ecosystems (Duffy, D. C. and Wissel. 1988. Models of fish school size in relation to environmental productivity. Ecological Modeling. 40: 201-211).

Realizing that South Africans would have to create their own political future, Duffy and his family moved to Costa Rica in 1986 where he created the Centro de Documentacion en Vida Silvestre (Biodoc) in Heredia, Costa Rica as part of a US Fish and Wildlife Service sponsored wildlife management graduate program of which Duffy was one of the first professors (http://www.jstor.org/pss/20167063). After two years, he moved to the University of Georgia where he became the executive officer in charge of the International Congress of Ecology, under the direction of Frank Golley. At the same time he began his research on the biodiversity of eastern old growth forests and their recovery from clear cutting, which was to generate considerable controversy with US Forest Service scientists although being in line with research results elsewhere http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1992_Do_Appalachian_Herbaceous.pdf, http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1993_Seeing_the_Forest.pdf, http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1993_Herbs_and_Clearcutting.pdf, http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1995_POSSIBLE_ECOLOGICAL_MECHANISMS.pdf.

He then moved to Long Island where after he was briefly head of the Seatuck Foundation, before becoming principal investigator on a cooperative project with the Centers of Disease Control on Lyme Disease on Shelter Island. His work focused on the landscape ecology of Lyme Disease and the role of deer in the transmission of the disease (http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1994_Ambient_Air_Temperature.pdf,http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1994_Ixodes_scapularis.pdf,http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1994_Landscape_Patterns_of.pdf, as well as the role of seabirds in Lyme Disease http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1995_Transhemispheric_Exchange.pdf

Afterwards he moved to Alaska where he led the Alaska Heritage Program, rising from Associate to Full Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. His main research focused on the biodiversity of the Alaska landscape in relation to protected areas (http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/Papers/1999_Landscape_Assessment_of.pdf, but he also led the five-year multi-million dollar APEX (Alaska Predator Ecological Experiment) which monitored the recovery of seabirds following the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

He then moved to his current position where he is responsible for supervising approximately 950 grants and cooperative projects with state, federal and private agencies (totaling $97 million as of April 2007) focusing on natural and cultural management in Hawaiian and Pacific natural areas..

He was a featured scientist on National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth television show, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (http://www.pbs.org/strangedays/episodes/invaders/).

External links

  • [manoa.hawaii.edu/hpicesu/default.htm Dr. David Cameron Duffy]
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