Community Ecologist - The Dream Job Research Biologist

1. S. Joseph Wright Community Ecologist:The Dream Job Research Biologist Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute APO AA 34002-0938, United States or Apdo 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama Presenting Team: Jeremy Sueltenfuss Gloria Summay Chris Davis Dave Gebben Ecology 505

2. Academic & Career History B.A., 1974 Princeton Ph.D., 1980 UCLA Research Biologist, 1983-2003 Senior Scientist, 2004-present

3. Academic Pedigree 1974 – Princeton John Terborgh -Tropical conservation biologist. - Ran research station in Peru. 1980 – UCLA Henry Hespenheide - predator prey interactions - evolutionary pressures Martin Cody - Controls of species diversity, density, and distributions. (PhD) Steve Hubbell - Theoretical ecologist on diversity - Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity

4. Successful “Students”* Kaoru Kitajima - Associate Professor, University of Florida Kyle Harms - Associate Professor, Louisiana State University Greg Gilbert - Research Professor, University of California SC Jens Svenning - Professor of Biology,  Aarhus University Nina Wurzburger - Post doc research associate,  Princeton *post-doc associates

5. International Service President elect, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (2003 for 3-yr term) Associate Editor for the ‘Journal of Ecology’ of the British Ecological Society (1997 to 2004) Associate Editor for ‘Biotropica’ (2001 to 2004)

6. Smithsonian Service Scientist-in-charge, Canopy Biology Program (1992 to present) Scientist-in-charge, Terrestrial Environmental Sciences Program (1993 to present)

7. Themes - by Decade 2000-2010 Changes in Tropical Forest Plant Community. What drives change?1990-2000 Ecophysiology of tropical plants.   How do changes in physical/biogeochemical cycles affect physiology of plants?1980-1990 Relationships between plants and animals.   Competition and Extinctions.

8. Publications by Area of Study

11. Publications by Journal

12. First Authorship

13. Most Cited Articles Tropical forests support 60% of all species and are a key component of global carbon and climate cycles. Despite their obvious global significance, relatively few biologists study tropical forests, and our papers are often cited accordingly. -SJ Wright

14. What Wright Says about his Work • “My doctoral work was an attempt to link species abundance distributions and species area relationships. I fell well short of my goal and became disillusioned with the problem.” • “My community was a human construct - it made no biological sense. So, I switched to plants.” • - “First, I embraced ecophysiology and phenology. Second, I started long-term monitoring studies of seed production and seedling recruitment and performance.”

15. Advice to Young Scholars: “Be optimistic. Expect the best from your colleagues. Always look for what you can learn from others – ignore their mistakes, focus on their successful insights. We aren’t lawyers. Our goal is to increase knowledge, not bicker over details.”