J. Emmett Duffy

“ Like most ecologists, I was fascinated as a kid by the wonders of "pristine" nature, and remain so. But the alarming pace of environmental change convinced me that the real frontiers in environmental science are far more fundamental than the nuances of how species interact. Instead, they involve how we maintain the basic structures and life-support functions of ecosystems into the long-term future. Saving biodiversity is no longer a matter of aesthetics but literally of our survival as a civilized global society. ”

Loretta and Lewis Glucksman Professor of Marine Science, School of Marine Science

The College of William & Mary

Emmett Duffy is an ecologist whose work explores marine biological diversity—its evolutionary origins, how interactions among organisms and environment maintain it, its importance to society, and how humans are affecting it. His research ranges from field surveys and descriptions of new species, through experimental study of how marine food webs work, to synthetic efforts assessing links between biodiversity and the natural services that marine ecosystems provide to human society. His group’s main research focuses on how environmental change affects the number and types of plants and animals in coastal marine ecosystems, and how this changing biodiversity in turn influences the stability and productivity of coastal ecosystems. Duffy's work has shown that small grazing invertebrates serve a central role in the proper functioning of marine ecosystems, keeping nuisance algae in check, facilitating seagrass beds that serve as nurseries for young fish and shellfish, and providing essential food for fishes higher in the food chain. A theme emerging from this research is that diverse populations of predators and grazers are key to maintaining the natural infrastructure that supports productive coastal ecosystems and economies. Current efforts aim to apply these basic ecological insights to real-world management problems in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere.

A second theme of Duffy’s research explores the origin of extreme biodiversity on coral reefs. This work led to his discovery in 1996 of the first eusocial marine animals—tropical shrimp with cooperative social systems headed by a queen, similar to those of ants and bees on land. Comparative study of social animals on land and in the sea is yielding new insights into the fundamental evolutionary processes that mold animal life cycles and social behaviors.

Duffy is the author of over 80 scientific publications and co-editor of the 2007 book "Evolutionary ecology of social and sexual systems: Crustaceans as model organisms" (Oxford, 2007). His work has been supported by the NSF, National Geographic Society, and Smithsonian Institution, and has been featured in the BBC’s Blue Planet series, on the Discovery Channel, in textbooks, and in various media outlets. He has served on editorial boards for Ecology, Ecological Monographs, Ecology Letters, the Journal of Ethology, and the online Encyclopedia of Earth (www.eoearth.org). He actively supports science as a tool for responding creatively to society’s critical interdependence with the natural world, and interacts regularly with international collaborators, educators, and the public in promoting the science and public importance of biological diversity.

 

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