Kirk Winemiller Explained

Kirk Owen Winemiller
Birth Date:April 4, 1956
Birth Place:Richland County, Ohio, United States
Field:Ecology
Work Institutions:Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Texas A&M University
Alma Mater:Miami University
University of Texas
Doctoral Advisors:Eric Pianka, Clark Hubbs
Known For:Fish ecology
Life history theory
Food web ecology
Awards:Mercer Award, Ecological Society of America; Miksch Sutton Award, Society of Southwest Naturalists; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Special Recognition in Fisheries, Texas Chapter American Fisheries Society; Fellow, Ecological Society of America; Award of Excellence, American Fisheries Society; Fellow, American Fisheries Society; Faculty Fellow, Texas A&M University; Regent's Professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Research; Bush Excellence Award for International Research

Kirk O. Winemiller is an American ecologist, known for research on community ecology, life history theory, food webs, aquatic ecosystems, tropical ecology and fish biology. A strong interest of his has been convergent evolution and patterns, causes and consequences of biological diversity, particularly with respect to fishes. His research also has addressed the influence of hydrology on the ecological dynamics of fluvial ecosystems and applications of this knowledge for managing aquatic biodiversity and freshwater resources in the United States and other regions of the world. He currently is a University Distinguished Professor and Regents Professor at Texas A&M University and an Elected Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, American Fisheries Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[1]

Works

Winemiller has produced more than 280 scientific papers and 25 book chapters on topics ranging from food web ecology to the evolutionary ecology of fishes. He coauthored the books "The Science of Instream Flows: A Review of the Texas Instream Flow Program" (2005, National Academies Press) and "Peacock Bass: Diversity, Ecology and Conservation" (2021, with L.C. Kelso Winemiller and C.G. Montaña Elsevier), and with G.A. Polis coedited the book "Food Webs: Integration of Patterns and Dynamics" (1996, reprinted in 2013 by Springer Science). In 1992, he received the Mercer Award from the Ecological Society of America in recognition for his paper on food web ecology published in Ecological Monographs (1990) and which formed a part of his doctoral dissertation (1987).

Winemiller's early research on the life history of fish species resulted in the development of the triangular continuum, or E-P-O (Equilibrium-Periodic-Opportunistic) model. The model arose from an analysis of reproductive traits and demographic parameters using his own field-derived datasets and data compiled via review of hundreds of articles and reports (Winemiller 1989, Winemiller & Rose 1992). Building on these analyses, fundamental inferences were developed that unified earlier life history continua in one dimension, such as fast vs. slow life histories, and r vs. K strategists. The E-P-O model integrated, and to an extent reconciled, the much-debated r/K and bet-hedging theories. The E-P-O model predicts how spatial and temporal environmental variation influences selection for reproductive strategies, and further explains previously identified tradeoffs among demographic variables. The model has helped to clarify the influence of density dependence during population responses to harvest and environmental disturbances over variable scales of space and time.

Winemiller also made influential contributions in food web ecology, the study of networks of species interactions. His extensive field studies, laboratory dietary and isotopic analyses, and quantitative innovations revealed that networks of predator-prey interactions were far more complex than had been previously described. He discovered that the structure of freshwater and estuarine food webs was strongly influenced by seasonal environmental variation, selection of methods, units and resolution scales for network components, and species life history strategies influencing population dynamics and relative abundances of consumers and resources. This body of work, together with his research on fish community ecology, reveals how functional traits influence the manner that organisms respond to abiotic and biotic environmental features. Winemiller has been a proponent of the idea that universal form-function relationships and constraints result in widespread convergence of species adaptations and the structure of ecological communities in similar environments.

Selected bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kirk Winemiller . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170426153804/https://www.aaas.org/fellow/winemiller-kirk . April 26, 2017 . . April 26, 2017.
    - Web site: Kirk Winemiller . Texas A&M University . April 26, 2017.
    - Web site: Kirk O. Winemiller . . April 26, 2017.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kirk Winemiller".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.