Daniel Goodman
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Daniel Goodman (20 May 1945 – 14 November 2012) was an American professor specializing in the fields of
ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
,
population biology The term population biology has been used with different meanings. In 1971 Edward O. Wilson ''et al''. used the term in the sense of applying mathematical models to population genetics, community ecology, and population dynamics. Alan Hastings us ...
, and
Bayesian statistics Bayesian statistics is a theory in the field of statistics based on the Bayesian interpretation of probability where probability expresses a ''degree of belief'' in an event. The degree of belief may be based on prior knowledge about the event, ...
. He was the founder and director of the Environmental Statistics Group in the Department of Ecology at Montana State University.


Biography

Goodman was born in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio and, as a child, moved with his family to
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, Israel where he attended high school and entered military service. Goodman returned to the United States to attend
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
where he obtained a B.Sc. in biology (1966) and a Ph.D. in Zoology (1972). Goodman worked as a research associate at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
(1972-1974) and taught at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for oceanography, ocean and Earth science research ...
(1975-1983) and
Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...
(1981-2012). He died at age 67 from complications arising in surgery to remove a spinal tumor. He is survived by his wife, Diane Brawner and daughter, Rollie Goodman.


Work

Academically, Goodman is known primarily for his early career work on the relationship between diversity and stability in an ecological context and his work on
life history theory Life history theory is an analytical frameworkVitzthum, V. (2008). Evolutionary models of women's reproductive functioning. ''Annual Review of Anthropology'', ''37'', 53-73 designed to study the diversity of life history strategies used by differen ...
. He used empirical evidence from over 200 publications to refute the then popular theory that biological diversity affects (enhances)
ecological stability In ecology, an ecosystem is said to possess ecological stability (or equilibrium) if it is capable of returning to its equilibrium state after a perturbation (a capacity known as resilience) or does not experience unexpected large changes in its ...
. His work on reproductive trade-offs in life history theory showed that the true cost of reproduction in
iteroparous Semelparity and iteroparity are two contrasting reproductive strategies available to living organisms. A species is considered semelparous if it is characterized by a single reproductive episode before death, and iteroparous if it is characteri ...
organisms is not only affected by changes in future survival probability, but also by changes in future reproductive capacity and that this combined effect can be measured as a change in reproductive value. Later in his career, he focused more on applied problems in conservation biology and environmental science. He is known for the application of mathematical and statistical models in studies of human impacts on marine mammals and Pacific salmon species. In one of his most cited publications in this field,Goodman, D. (1987). "The demography of chance extinction". ''Viable populations for conservation'', 11-34. he shows the importance of demographic stochasticity (chance events pertaining to births and deaths) in the probability of population extinction. Goodman served on many governmental committees and other working groups that were dedicated to conservation and environmental protection (listed below). The "Daniel Goodman Memorial Symposium" was held on 20–21 March 2014 at the
Museum of the Rockies Museum of the Rockies is a museum in Bozeman, Montana. Originally affiliated with Montana State University in Bozeman, and now also, the Smithsonian Institution, the museum is largely known for its paleontological collections. The Museum houses ...
, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana. The subject of this symposium, "Decision-making under uncertainty: risk assessment and the best available science", honors his contributions to the field of risk assessment in environmental science.


Selected bibliography

* Goodman, D. (1974). "Natural selection and a cost-ceiling on reproductive effort". ''American Naturalist'' 108:247-268. * Goodman, D. (1975). "The theory of diversity-stability relationships in ecology". ''Quarterly Review Biology'' 50:237-266. * Goodman, D. (1979). "Regulating reproductive effort in a changing environment". ''American Naturalist'', 735-748. * Goodman, D. (1982). "Optimal life histories, optimal notation, and the value of reproductive value". ''American Naturalist'' 119:803-823. * Goodman, D. (1984). "Risk spreading as an adaptive strategy in iteroparous life histories". ''Theoretical Population Biology'', 25(1), 1-20. * Goodman, D. (1987). "The demography of chance extinction". ''Viable populations for conservation'', 11-34. * Goodman, D. (2004). "Taking the prior seriously: Bayesian analysis without subjective probability". ''The Nature of Scientific Evidence'', 379-409.


Awards

*
Woodrow Wilson Fellowship The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit based in Princeton, New Jersey that aims to strengthen American democracy by “cultivating the talent, ideas, ...


Committee Membership

* Board of Trustees, The Institute of Ecology 1979-82 * Condor Advisory Committee, Cal Fish & Game Commission 1981-85 * Committee of Scientific Advisors, US Marine Mammal Commission 1985-89 * Scientific Committee, International Whaling Commission 1986-88 * Science Advisory Board, US Environmental Protection Agency *
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...
of the National Academies


References


External links


Obituary:Bozeman Daily Chronicle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Daniel American ecologists American naturalists Educators from Cincinnati Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni University of California, San Diego faculty Montana State University faculty 1945 births 2012 deaths