A paper co-authored by two MMI Principal Investigators, James O'Dwyer and Jessica Green, has been recognized by the Ecological Society of America. Working from CAMERA datasets, O'Dwyer and Green developed a spatially explicit neutral prediction for the species-area relationship (SAR), drawing on quantum field theory and neutral community ecology. Their work was highlighted in Nature in May, and has now been selected as the 2010 Outstanding Theory Paper by the ESA’s Theoretical Ecology Section.

The research was supported by a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation grant to UC Davis, for the analysis of metagenomic datasets through the development of tools to predict microorganisms’ responses to climate and other environmental change.

Related Links:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/122680792/HTMLSTART

http://www.santafe.edu/news/item/how-many-species-does-rainforest-contain-odwyer-green-biodiversity/

http://www.cs.unm.edu/~aaron/blog/archives/2010/05/natures_journal_1.htm

http://www.esa.org/aboutesa/awards.php