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Daniel B. Botkin

Solving environmental problems by understanding how nature works

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Daniel B. Botkin Professional Experience

April 3, 2014 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Adjunct Professor of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, and  Professor (Emeritus), Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara.

The New York Times has called him "one of the world's leading environmental researchers," who has "done much to popularize the concept of using yet maintaining the world's natural resources."

His more decades of scientific research includes studies of wilderness and natural park ecosystems ---- from the Serengeti Plains of Africa to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Minnesota; threatened and endangered species ----whooping cranes, salmon, bowhead and sperm whales, and African elephants.  A pioneer in the use of computers in ecology, he  created the first successful computer simulation in ecology, still in use worldwide.  He was among the first to investigate possible ecological effects of global warming, and to help NASA use satellite imaging to study the Earth's global environment.

He is an experienced speaker and teacher.  He has taught field courses at the University of California, Santa Barbara and at University of Michigan and University of Notre Dame summer field stations  He has spoken at most of the major universities in the United States and before many environmental organizations, corporations, government agencies.  He has led ecotours in Europe and North America.

Among his awards are the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden's John C. Pritzlaff Conservation Award for his career contribution to the conservation of nature; Oxford University Astor Lectureship; Long Beach Aquarium, annual distinguished visiting scientist, their first ever); Green Mountain College, annual distinguished visiting scholar; University of Notre Dame, Visiting Professor; Textbook and Academic Authors Association, Award for Best Textbook in Biological Sciences, 2004.

Comments about Daniel Botkin's Talks

Dear Dan, Thanks once again for a terrific talk at our Cocktail Benefit last week.
Having you there helped us generate a good crowd and they were genuinely interested in your talk. You have been very kind, both with your talk and in your sharing of ideas, and I look forward to our future interactions!
Bill Schuster, Executive Director, Black Rock Forest Consortium, Cornwall, NY

Thank you again for presenting a Cosmos Club Evening Lecture on "Christian in Concord: A Scientist Views Thoreau.' Your thoughtful perspective of Thoreau and his view of and relationship to nature provided a philosophical prelude to the Christmas Season. Everyone who was there went away with renewed appreciation for the legacy left by Henry David Thoreau.     
Ruth Irelan Knee, Program Committee Chair, Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

Dan-I'm the one who should thank you for the time and effort that you put into the lecture. I thought the time and care that Lewis and Clark put into their explorations was quite amazing-and rather ironic considering the timing of the news about the failure of the Mars probe due to confusion between the metric and British systems of measurement!  We had a lot of positive comments about your talk, so I know the audience was appreciative.
Margie Gibson, Office of Public Affairs National Zoo Washington, DC

Thanks for taking the time to speak at the SAF (Society of American Foresters) national convention. Your remarks were right on target with the messages we wanted to convey. We had VERY good feedback about your remarks."
James Brown, State Forester of Oregon

Dan- You were great. That was a very thoughtful presentation and I liked the way it showed your scientific education over time and how your thinking evolved. I would have liked to have heard the whole presentation. One of the best gauges of a talk is what people are saying in the lobby afterward. As I went down the stairs, visited the rest room and got my coat I overheard a number of very positive conversations including one that continued down the street with a father quizzing his son.
Robert Elliott, formerly Assistant Secretary of State, New York State and past President of the New York Conference of Mayors.

I wanted to again thank you for the great efforts you put into being our distinguished guest at the 2008 Green Mountain College residency, and for being such an inspiration to me and my fellow classmates. I cherish the opportunities we had to speak and hope our paths will cross as I venture out.
Lori S. Curtis, then a student at Green Mountain College, Vermont

Your presentation on Wednesday night was excellent.
Pierre Glynn, Chief, National Research Program/Eastern Branch, US Geological Survey, National Research Program, Reston, VA

Professor Botkin has published 14 books.

Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the 21st Century.  This is his best known book. The New York Times wrote that it is "considered by many ecologists to be the classic text of the [environmental] movement."

His most recent book is The Moon in the Nautilus Shell.  Comments include:

"Dan's writing about the search for scientific understanding of nature, and about conflicts between observations of what happens to creatures and places in the world when conservation strategies are based on symbolic models, is compelling and poetic.        — Joe Browder, first Conservation Director of Friends of the Earth

"I can't think of another author who has had so great an impact on natural resource management as Daniel Botkin. His most recent book, The Moon in the Nautilus Shell, challenges us to rethink ecology in the same way the Origin of Species changed the approach to biology."     — Kerry Fitzpatrick, Wildlife Ecologist, Michigan Department of Natural Resources

"How does our willingness to believe in a "balance of nature" affect all environmental thought? The question has never been more relevant or the answers here more profound. Best of all, they remain stories and never a sermon. They are indeed earnest, and elegantly written. This remains a rare and masterful treatment of those environmental issues that somehow never go away." — Alfred Runte, author of National Parks: The American Experience

"Dan Botkin engages us to think deeply about the relation between Man and Nature. It provokes natural scientists to pay more attention to, and appreciate, the rich complexities and dynamic nature of ecosystems.— Pierre Glynn, US Geological Survey, National Research Program

If anyone had been observing me reading this book, they would have been highly amused. Botkin had so many sentences I wanted to highlight that it was almost every page. But the stories were so compelling I couldn't stop reading to go look up how to highlight.— Sharon T. Friedman, Chair, Forest Policy Committee,Society of American Foresters and Executive Director Common Ground, Common Interest, Common Sense

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From Daniel B. Botkin, Ph.D

Daniel Botkin
I believe we are mostly on the wrong track in the way we try to deal with the environment. Everything I do, study, learn, and advise about the environment is different from the status quo. Throughout my career, I have tried to understand how nature works and use that understanding to figure out how we can solve our most pressing environmental problems.

My process over the past 45 years has been to look carefully at the facts, make simple calculations from them (sometimes simple computer models) and then tell people what I have learned. It’s surprising how rarely people bother to look at the facts. This has surprised me every time I’ve started a new ecology research project or work on an environmental issue.

In the course of my work and studies, I have learned many things and I want to tell you about them. That is the purpose of this website.

Follow @danielbotkin

Books by Dan Botkin

The Moon in the Nautilus Shell  Strange Encounters
Powering the Future  No Man's Garden
See all books by Dan Botkin

Jabowa III Forest Model


Jabowa Forest Model
Jabowa Forest Model for Windows 7.
This forest model, used around the world, was developed first in 1970 by Daniel B. Botkin, James F. Janak and James R. Wallis

JABOWA remains the most completely detailed and well validated forest growth model available, accounting for 95% or more of the variation in real forests where it has been tested.

The book Forest Dynamics: An Ecological Model (available as an eBook) provides a complete description of the model and the rationales behind its development.

Order Online

Sea Ice Study

The Bockstoce and Botkin Historical Sea Ice Data Study has a new home at the University of Alaska website. The data include more than 52,000 daily observations in an unbroken 65 year record from 1849 – 1914.

See related papers

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