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Daniel B. Botkin

Solving environmental problems by understanding how nature works

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INTERESTED IN WHALES? SEE OUR LONG TERM RESEARCH ON BOWHEADS

July 9, 2019 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Interested in Whales? With anthropologist and Arctic Explorer John Bockstoce, I did research on Bowhead whales using logbooks from Yankee whaling ships hunting that species from 1849 to 1915. We learned each year how many whales were caught and how the bowhead whale population changed over that time. We also were able to compare where the Yankee whalers saw the sea ice southern edge in the 19th Century with modern observations. Go to

How Old Whaling Ships Logbooks Help Us Understand More About Climate Change. Research by Bockstoce and Botkin

Here is a photo John took of Arctic sea ice in recent years.

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Filed Under: Biological Diversity, Featured

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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.

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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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