Dan Simberloff

Daniel Simberloff is the Nancy Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Tennessee. He received his A.B. from Harvard University in 1964 and his Ph.D there (under E.O. Wilson) in 1968. He was a faculty member at Florida State University from 1968 through 1997, when he became the Nancy Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Tennessee. His 350 publications center on ecology, biogeography, evolution, and conservation biology, and much of his recent research focuses on causes and consequences of biological invasions. His research projects are on insects, plants, birds, and mammals. At the University of Tennessee he directs the Institute for Biological Invasions, http://invasions.bio.utk.edu/resources/index.html. He was instrumental in formulating presidential Executive Order 13112 on invasive species, and he serves on the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group and the IUCN Species Survival Commission. He has served on the federal Invasive Species Advisory Committee, the National Science Board, and the Board of Governors of the Nature Conservancy, and is a past president of the American Society of Naturalists. He currently edits or serves on the editorial boards of Biological Invasions, BioScience, Biodiversity and Conservation, and other journals. He is the translator of "Killer Algae," Alexandre Meinesz's book on the invasion of the Mediterranean by Caulerpa taxifolia. In 2006 he received the Eminent Ecologist Award of the Ecological Society of America.

Plenary Presentation - BIOFUEL FEEDSTOCKS: ARE INVASION BIOLOGISTS JUST CHICKEN LITTLES?

The rush to develop biofuels to replace dwindling petroleum supplies may engender unintended ecological consequences. Traits touted as ideal for biofuel feedstocks strikingly resemble those of many non-native plants introduced for forage and/or erosion control that subsequently became invasive. Although invasion biologists have progressed substantially in developing risk assessment tools, predictions that a plant will be safe when grown as a feedstock may be faulty because new genotypes and/or new features of the physical environment associated with cultivation have not been taken into account. Although many more invasive species are introduced than native, native species have also become invasive when genotypes or environments change. Thus native species such as switchgrass are not automatically harmless. Similarly, formerly sterile plant species have become fertile invaders, so sterile hybrids such as Miscanthus are also not guaranteed to be innocuous. Proposals for feedstock production should be evaluated species-by-species and will require research into the basic biology limiting reproduction and/or spread. Even for a species adjudged safe, mass cultivation plans should incorporate risk management procedures to mitigate unexpected invasion. Many introduced species have remained restricted and quiescent for decades before exploding to become widespread invaders, so ongoing monitoring and vigilance are required.