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David Geoffrey Green | |
---|---|
Citizenship | Australia |
Known for | Dual-phase evolution, Fine-resolution pollen analysis, Network theory of complexity |
Awards | NSW Premiers Award 1998 |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Complexity Theory Ecology Society |
Institutions | Monash University Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence |
Doctoral advisor | E.C.Pielou |
Other academic advisors | Gordon Preston |
David Geoffrey Green is an Australian computer scientist and author. He is best known for his contributions to knowledge in complexity theory, ecology and society.
Born in Melbourne, Green won a scholarship to Melbourne Grammar School in 1961. In 1971, he completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Monash University and followed this with a Master of Science degree in Mathematics, studying under Gordon Preston. During his undergraduate studies, he saw untapped potential for mathematics and computing in the life sciences. To exploit this potential, he undertook a PhD in Ecology with E.C.Pielou at Dalhousie University in Canada. A notable feature of his thesis on the postglacial forest ecology of Nova Scotia was the first application of time series analysis to preserved pollen data.
Upon completing his studies, Green returned to Australia and worked briefly in Mathematics at LaTrobe University (1977-1978). He then accepted a research position in the Department of Biogeograpy and Geomorphology at the Australian National University (ANU) (1979-1990).
In 1990, the Australian Government established an agency called the Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN) [1] to support decision-making on environmental matters. As ERIN's Associate Director for Environmental Information (1990-91), Green led a team that designed and built query systems about biodiversity and the environment. In 1991, he returned to ANU as an Australian Research Council Senior Fellow, sharing his time between the Supercomputer Facility and Research School of Biological Science. During this time, he resumed his work on environmental modelling, as well as experimenting with information networks.
In 1994, he accepted a Chair of Computer Science at Charles Sturt University. His team developed some of the first undergraduate courses in Web technology. Collaboration with the New South Wales Department of Education led to the establishment of the NSW Higher School Certificate Online, one of the country's first online resources for high school students. This work was recognized with a Premier's Award in 1998.
In 2003, Green returned to Monash University as Professor of Computer Science in the Faculty of Information Technology. His notable roles in the following years included member of the ARC Centre for Complex Systems (2004-2009), Associate Dean (Research) (2012-2015) and Chair of the ARC Mathematics and Computing Committee (2018-2020) as part of Excellence for Research in Australia (ERA).
Green retired in 2021, but remains affiliated with Monash University's Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
He is best known for his contributions to the theory of Complex Systems. In 1992, he showed that networks are inherent in both the structure and behavior of all complex systems [2] . An important implication of this was that the connectivity avalanche [3] , which occurs as the number of connections increases in random networks, underlies almost all cases of critical phase change, such as crystallization and ice formation. This work also led to the theory of Dual-Phase Evolution, which provides a mechanism by which order emerges in many natural and artificial systems. His research on complexity also provided insights in a diversity of fields, including forest ecology, geographic information, social networks, proteins, artificial intelligence and theory of computation.
Green’s early research in ecology explored the potential of combining statistical methods with fine-resolution Palynology [4] , [5] . His analysis of preserved pollen and charcoal records showed that fires play an important role in postglacial plant migrations and in transitions between different forest types [6] . Building on this early work, he pioneered some of the first models of plant processes in landscapes [7] . These models showed that spatial processes, such as seed dispersal, played an important role in plant persistence and spread. These results led to later research that highlighted the role of complexity in ecology [8] , [9] .
In 1990-1991, Green worked on implementing the Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN) for the Australian government. [1] , [10] . This project highlighted a need for ways to share information quickly and widely. In 1992, Green launched Australia’s first World Web service, called ‘The LIFE Server’ [11] . Its aim was to experiment with new ways of sharing scientific information, and to provide aggregated links to research information and resources in several areas. These included the development of online resources for the international biodiversity projects International Organization for Plant Information and the Biodiversity Information Network (BIN21) [12] . The site also developed distributed approaches for storing and accessing Online Geographic Information [13] .
Green's later research focussed on the impacts of complexity in society. This included contributions to psychology and socio-economics [14] , but especially the nature and causes of unanticipated social trends, and the impacts of new technology on society [15] , [16] .
Ecology is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history.
An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food web. Since the 20th century, invasive species have become a serious economic, social, and environmental threat worldwide.
A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains.
Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecology, geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, zoology, epidemiology, public health, and home economics, among others.
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management.
Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizational levels of research and policy. Landscape ecology can be described as the science of "landscape diversity" as the synergetic result of biodiversity and geodiversity.
Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in an urban environment. An urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings, paved surfaces, and other urban-related factors that create a unique landscape. The goal of urban ecology is to achieve a balance between human culture and the natural environment.
Ecosystem diversity deals with the variations in ecosystems within a geographical location and its overall impact on human existence and the environment.
Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes that slowly alter the layout of the physical environment, and human activity such as land conversion, which can alter the environment much faster and causes the extinction of many species. More specifically, habitat fragmentation is a process by which large and contiguous habitats get divided into smaller, isolated patches of habitats.
Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair already damaged ecosystems rather than take preventative measures. Ecological restoration can reverse biodiversity loss, combat climate change, and support local economies.
The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) suggests that local species diversity is maximized when ecological disturbance is neither too rare nor too frequent. At low levels of disturbance, more competitive organisms will push subordinate species to extinction and dominate the ecosystem. At high levels of disturbance, due to frequent forest fires or human impacts like deforestation, all species are at risk of going extinct. According to IDH theory, at intermediate levels of disturbance, diversity is thus maximized because species that thrive at both early and late successional stages can coexist. IDH is a nonequilibrium model used to describe the relationship between disturbance and species diversity. IDH is based on the following premises: First, ecological disturbances have major effects on species richness within the area of disturbance. Second, interspecific competition results in one species driving a competitor to extinction and becoming dominant in the ecosystem. Third, moderate ecological scale disturbances prevent interspecific competition.
Ecological indicators are used to communicate information about ecosystems and the impact human activity has on ecosystems to groups such as the public or government policy makers. Ecosystems are complex and ecological indicators can help describe them in simpler terms that can be understood and used by non-scientists to make management decisions. For example, the number of different beetle taxa found in a field can be used as an indicator of biodiversity.
James J. Kay was an ecological scientist and policy-maker. He was a respected physicist best known for his theoretical work on complexity and thermodynamics.
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William F. Laurance, also known as Bill Laurance, is Distinguished Research Professor at James Cook University, Australia and has been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He has received an Australian Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council. He held the Prince Bernhard Chair for International Nature Conservation at Utrecht University, Netherlands from 2010 to 2014.
Dual phase evolution (DPE) is a process that drives self-organization within complex adaptive systems. It arises in response to phase changes within the network of connections formed by a system's components. DPE occurs in a wide range of physical, biological and social systems. Its applications to technology include methods for manufacturing novel materials and algorithms to solve complex problems in computation.
Participatory monitoring is the regular collection of measurements or other kinds of data (monitoring), usually of natural resources and biodiversity, undertaken by local residents of the monitored area, who rely on local natural resources and thus have more local knowledge of those resources. Those involved usually live in communities with considerable social cohesion, where they regularly cooperate on shared projects.
J. Stephen Lansing is an American anthropologist and complexity scientist. He is especially known from his decades of research on the emergent properties of human-environmental interactions in Bali, Borneo and the Malay Archipelago; social-ecological modeling, and complex adaptive systems. He is an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna; a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford; a visiting scholar at the Hoffman Global Institute for Business and Society at INSEAD Singapore, and emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona.
Sarah Bekessy is an Australian interdisciplinary conservation scientist with a background in conservation biology and experience in social sciences, planning, and design. Her research interests focus on the intersection between science, policy, and the design of environmental management. She is currently a professor and ARC Future Fellow at RMIT University in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies. She leads the Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group.
Duccio Rocchini is an Italian professor. Since 2019, he has been serving as a full professor at the University of Bologna and holds an honorary professorship at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.
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