AB Scientist: H. Resit Akçakaya
H. Resit Akçakaya worked as Senior Scientist at Applied Biomathematics until August 2007; he is now a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University.
H. Resit Akcakaya (b.1961) is an ecologist specializing in population dynamics and conservation biology. In his Ph.D. research, Resit developed a ratio-dependent model of Canadian Lynx - Snowshoe Hare interaction. After joining Applied Biomathematics, he continued his research both in theoretical ecology (predation models and food chain dynamics in lakes), and in conservation biology. He has been working in the area of biological conservation since 1980, and has been involved in both practical and theoretical research on problems of species conservation, including several population viability analysis (PVA) studies (see projects below).
One of the principal architects of the RAMAS library of software, he worked on designing software for risk assessment and modeling of metapopulations, developing methods for integrating metapopulation dynamics with geographic information systems, and incorporating uncertainty into IUCN criteria for threatened species. He has also worked on projects applying these methods to cases involving endangered or threatened species. He recently served on the Criteria Review Working Group of the IUCN (The World Conservation Union), and is currently chair of the IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, which develops guidelines for the evaluation of threatened and endangered species assessments, and evaluates petitions against the red-listing of these species.
Resit has over 80 publications, including 4 books and 60 peer-reviewed papers. He is a co-author of Risk Assessment in Conservation Biology (with Burgman and Ferson), and Applied Population Ecology (with Burgman and Ginzburg), and lead editor of Species Conservation and Management: Case Studies and Demographic Toxicity: Methods in Ecological Risk Assessment. He is a member of the editorial boards of Conservation Biology, Population Ecology, Acta Oecologia, and Turkish Journal of Zoology.For recent and upcoming talks, see CV. Also see Publications by AB Scientists.
Resit and his wife Terry at the Florida Everglades (during the mosquito season).
Projects at Applied Biomathematics:
- Red List Index for measuring global trends in the status of biodiversity
- Assessing status and trends of threatened species from uncertain monitoring data
- Avoiding mistakes in population modeling
- IUCN Kurallari (Turkish)
- Effect of human population on land-use and species viability
- Effect of altered fire regimes on Sage Sparrow
- Sharp-tailed Grouse viability in a dynamic landscape
- California Least Tern metapopulation dynamics
- RAMAS Landscape
- Estimating the variance of survival rates and fecundities
- Linking landscape and metapopulation models
- Threatened species classifications under uncertainty
- Marbled Murrelet (Oregon and California)
- Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Louisiana)
- Northern Spotted Owl (northwestern USA)
- California Gnatcatcher (southern California)
- Cactus Wren (southern California)
- Helmeted Honeyeater (Victoria, Australia)
- Land snail Arianta arbustorum (Switzerland)
- California Spotted Owl (southern California)
- Redhorse Sucker species (Muskingum River)
- Shortnose Sturgeon (Connecticut River)
- Daphnia and Neanthes (sediment toxicity testing)
- Undergraduate ecology textbook with software
- Habitat-based metapopulation viability analysis
- Linking landscape data with PVA (RAMAS GIS)
- Optimizing environmental sampling protocols
- Dynamics of Striped Bass Morone saxatilis (Hudson River)
- Harvest of White-tailed Deer (New York)
