Robert K. Colwell

World authority on concepts, patterns, measurement, and simulation modeling of biodiversity. Earliest research tested a hypothesis for the higher diversity of insect species in tropical forests than temperate forests. Subsequently, he developed statistical tools for estimating and comparing the number of species in different habitats; led an inventory of insect species in tropical forests; developed software for biodiversity databases; and developed simulation models of species diversity that incorporate both ecological and evolutionary dynamics, applying these models to geographic patterns of plant and animal diversity and to projecting the biogeographical effects of climate change. His work with biogeographical theory and stochastic spatial models has stimulated controversy and new directions in the field, with links to systematics and conservation biology. At Berkeley and then University of Connecticut, Colwell received the Distinguished Service Citation of the Ecological Society of America and was president of the American Society of Naturalists and editor of Evolutionary Ecology Research. Collaborated with Latin American, European, and Asian ecologists and statisticians, served as advisor and consultant on biodiversity and biotechnology with several international and American agencies.