- Email: [email protected]
Editorial policy and update
Ecological Modelling 232 (2012) v–viii
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Ecological Modelling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolmodel
Editorial
Editorial policy and update
This editorial has two objectives. The first is to reconfirm the journals policy and scope. The second is to provide a brief update on the journal status and International Society of Ecological Modelling (ISEM) activities. 1. Editorial policy Regarding the first objective, we most recently provided a thorough framework for authors in an editorial published in 2006 (Jørgensen et al., 2006). The editors have followed this framework in deciding which papers are within the journal scope. Due to the large increase in the number of submissions during the ensuing years, we have had to maintain a fairly strict interpretation of this scope, and as such the rejection rate has increased. Some authors may not be aware of this framework so it is repeated below. (1) All papers must present a new model or a new contribution to systems ecology. (2) Papers based on the use of statistical analyses on ecological data cannot be accepted. There are other journals that publish the use of statistics in ecology. (3) Papers that apply an existing model to a new case study will not be published as research articles. Unique case studies can be published as a short communication (a few pages only) but are more appropriate for specialty or national/regional journals. (4) Papers should include the support of ecological data for calibration and validation. (5) All papers should highlight the model’s novelty compared with previous models focusing on the same or approximately the same topic and ecosystem. The readers inevitably will ask: why should I use this new model and not an existing one? (6) The journal is called Ecological Modelling, which means that we want to publish papers on models of ecosystems or ecological processes, not models of physical or technological systems. For example, models of strictly atmospheric, chemical, or hydrological systems have other outlets. The models should bring new ecological knowledge and should emphasize the ecological implications of the model results. There is rapid rise in the need for integrated socio-ecological models which fall within the journal scope, but the focus must be on the ecological aspects not the sociological or economic. (7) New results in ecological theory are welcome, but the authors must emphasize the paper novelty. The papers must present how the paper expands our knowledge and if possible how we can utilize this new knowledge in ecological modelling or in our general understanding of ecosystems. 0304-3800/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2012.02.019
(8) New results in modelling theory are also welcome; but with the implications of an ecological model that has been improved by this new modelling theory. (9) New controversial results are also welcome. We do not have in Ecological Modelling an editorial policy to reject papers that are not in accordance with orthodox theories. On the contrary, we encourage new ideas even if they are controversial because that will inevitably lead to new scientific results. In this context, you have the possibility to publish a letter to the editor, which can be used to start a discussion among the readers on new but still not fully accepted ideas.
This refined editorial policy is encapsulated in the following short questions, which are applied during the review process:
(A) Does the paper focus on an ecological model or on systems ecology? (B) Are the results original and novel? (C) Does the paper clearly emphasize the scientific progress compared with existing literature? (D) Are the results based on ecological observations? (E) Is the ecological component sufficiently strong? All five questions must be answered by “yes” for a paper to be considered for publication. Papers not meeting these standards will be rejected by the handling editor prior to external peer review. In addition to these five questions about the content of the paper, the following questions focus on the presentation of the results: (F) Has the model been presented by a conceptual diagram? (G) Has the model been presented in such details that the reader is able to develop the model? In Ecological Modelling “Material and Methods” is the model. Note, this does not mean that computer code must be in the text of every paper, but enough information should be given. (H) Are the state variables, forcing functions, and the parameters clearly defined and dimensionalized (preferably in a table)? (I) Are the equations presented in sufficient detail? Should they be presented in an appendix (or on-line)? (J) Are all relevant references included? (K) Does the discussion focus on the scientific progress in ecological modelling (question C)? (L) Is the paper well written and the English language presentation clear?
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Editorial / Ecological Modelling 232 (2012) v–viii
Fig. 2. Decrease in editorial handling time since 2007. Fig. 1. Juan Blanco, recipient of the 2011 Ecological Modelling Outstanding Reviewer Award.
These seven presentation questions will be considered in the review process, and if some of the questions will be answered by “no”, then minor, moderate, or major revisions will be required. We would like to encourage the authors of papers to be submitted to Ecological Modelling to use these 12 questions (A–L) when they are reviewing their own paper before submission to reduce the probability for rejection. If one of the questions A–E will be answered by no, then Ecological Modelling is not the right scientific journal for your paper. We hope that this editorial policy will result in the submission of higher quality papers because the authors will know before submission if a paper fits to the editorial policy of Ecological Modelling. The end result will be a higher quality journal, which benefits both authors and readers.
Table 1 Most cited publications since 2009. # citations
Reference
38
Kurz, W.A., Dymond, C.C., White, T.M., Stinson, G., Shaw, C.H., Rampley, G.J., Smyth, C., Simpson, B.N., Neilson, E.T., Trofymow, J.A., Metsaranta, J., Apps, M.J., 2009. CBM-CFS3: a model of carbon-dynamics in forestry and land-use change implementing IPCC standards. Ecol. Model. 220 (4), 480–504. VanDerWal, J., Shoo, L.P., Graham, C., Williams, S.E., 2009. Selecting pseudo-absence data for presence-only distribution modeling: how far should you stray from what you know? Ecol. Model. 220 (4), 589–594. Grimm, V., Berger, U., DeAngelis, D.L. Polhill, J.G., Giske, J., Railsback, S.F., 2010. The ODD protocol: a review and first update. Ecol. Model. 221 (23), 2760–2768. Singh, K.P., Basant, A., Malik, A., Jain, G., 2009. Artificial neural network modeling of the river water quality – a case study. Ecol. Model. 220 (6), 888–895. Su, M.R., Yang, Z.F., Chen, B., Ulgiati, S., 2009. Urban ecosystem health assessment based on emergy and set pair analysis – a comparative study of typical Chinese cities. Ecol. Model. 220 (18), 2341–2348.
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2. Journal and society update 2.1. Ecological Modelling update The editor wants to acknowledge the work of the four associate editors: William Grant, Alexander Komarov, Søren Nors Nielsen, and Santanu Ray, as well as honorary editor Sven Jorgensen and the countless number of reviewers who have provided peer feedback on the scientific quality of the submitted work. As a way of thanking the reviewers for their hard work, Elsevier offers the following benefits: • • • • • • • •
Free 30-day access to SciVerse Scopus Advice and practical information from Elsevier journal editors Online Reviewers’ Information Pack Online support 24/7 via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) Live chat service from a dedicated Customer Support Team Quarterly Reviewers’ Update On-demand webinar: A 20:20 Vision on the Future of Peer Review Free mentoring booklet: Charting a course for a successful research career, written by 30-year research veteran Prof. Alan Johnson
In addition to these services, Ecological Modelling also awarded its second “Outstanding Reviewer Award”, in 2011 going to Juan Blanco now at the Dep. Ciencias del Medio Natural, Universidad Publica de Navarra, Spain (Fig. 1). During the period 2009–2011, Dr. Blanco accepted 16 of 17 reviewer requests and completed
them in an average of 9 days. More importantly, his reviews were thoughtful, comprehensive, and provided the authors with valuable feedback on the manuscripts. The work of the reviewers is especially important in light of the fact that the number of submissions to the journal remains high (almost 900 in 2010 and 800 in 2011). Each paper needs two reviews, so that is a lot of demand for reviewing. And, the international reach of the journal is high evident in that papers were published with authors from over 50 countries in 2011. Many of the recent papers published in Ecological Modelling are having a major impact on the field. The five top-cited papers published since 2009 are given in Table 1. In spite of these high citation papers, the overall journal ISI impact factor dropped slightly in 2010, most likely attributable to the lower number of published documents in 2010 (Table 2). The Table 2 Number of publications and impact factor. Year
Impact factor
Number of printed documents
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
2.077 2.176 1.871 1.769
426 385 345 305 389
Editorial / Ecological Modelling 232 (2012) v–viii
vii
Fig. 3. (a) Journal reputation, (b) overall satisfaction as reported in author surveys.
impact factor is sensitive to the number of publications and a pyramidal growth in papers will inflate the impact factor. By tightening the scope and increasing the rejection rate, those numbers were temporarily working against us, but hopefully resulting in a higher quality product in the long run. Furthermore, significant progress is being made to lower the editorial handling time of manuscripts (Fig. 2). We have also recently moved to “Article-based publishing” which means that papers go online with a volume and page number citation as soon as they are ready, eliminating the concern over print production time delays. The journal continues to maintain its reputation as the preferred outlet for Ecological Models as evidenced by the author survey returns (Fig. 3a and b).
2.2. International Society for Ecological Modelling update The International Society for Ecological Modelling (ISEM) held its 18th biennial conference in Beijing, China September 20–23. The meeting was very professionally and smoothly arranged by the local organizing committee, particularly by the team at Beijing Normal University, School of Environment, Zifeng Yang, Bin Chen, Meirong Su, and many others. The conference welcomed 400 participants over four days of intense and productive sessions, discussions, and social activities (Fig. 4). During the meeting, ISEM announced the winners of the 2nd biennial “Best Young Researcher Award (Fig. 5).” First prize went to Vladimir Shanin from Russia for his paper titled: Modelling carbon and nitrogen dynamics in forest ecosystems of Central Russia under different climate change
Fig. 4. Sven Erik Jørgensen delivering a keynote lecture at the recent ISEM meeting in Beijing, China.
scenarios and forest management regimes (Shanin et al., 2011). The prize included conference registration and $1000 travel grant. Two second prizes were given, one to Alexandra Baeta from Portugal and another to Victoria Lenz-Wiedemann of Germany, which included conference registration and a $500 travel grant. Their papers were,
Fig. 5. ISEM Best Young Researcher Award winners. (a) Vladimir Shanin, (b) Alexandra Baeta, (c) Victoria Lenz-Wiedmann.
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Editorial / Ecological Modelling 232 (2012) v–viii
respectively: Modelling the effects of eutrophication, mitigation measures and an extreme flood event on estuarine benthic food webs (Baeta et al., 2011) and Development and test of a crop growth model for application within a Global Change decision support system (LenzWiedemann et al., 2010). Support for the young researcher awards is provided by Elsevier. ISEM is a co-sponsor of the upcoming EcoSummit (www.ecosummit2012.org), scheduled for September 30–October 5, 2012 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Furthermore, the next ISEM meeting will be held in fall 2013 with the location to be announced shortly. Refer to the ISEM website (www.isemna.org) for updated details. Lastly, we unfortunately end with the sad news of the parting of a long-term board member, Vincent Hull, who passed away in early February 2012. He was remembered fondly by his colleagues with the following words: Vincent Hull graduated from 1980 University of Messina with a degree in Biology. From his early passion for aquatic ecology, he set out to become one of the leading voices in Europe for the application of mathematical modelling approaches in ecological studies. He founded the Italian School of Ecological Modelling, somehow finding enough funding every year to invite young ecologists and mathematicians to this groundbreaking event. As in many of his activities, Vincent succeeded in putting together people from different scientific and cultural backgrounds in a productive and stimulating environment. Vincent was always ready to help a junior colleague or point a curious student in the right direction. His early explorations into the study of inter-species relationships resulted in new applications of qualitative and quantitative modelling of feedbacks in marine and lake environments. His favourite laboratory was the Pontine lagoons in central Italy, where he dedicated more than 20 years exploring the ecological processes through classical analytical methods coupled with new developments in mathematical modelling. His exploration into the chaotic behaviour of oxygen dynamics in the water column and the sediment of these shallow lagoons provided inspiration to scores of younger scientists. By the time he received his doctorate from the University of Siena, he had already guided students in Italy, Argentina, Japan, Ukraine and Paraguay through the intricacies of applied modelling of environmental phenomena. In recent years, Vincent began to apply his knowledge of ecosystem dynamics for the benefit of the fish farmers and reserve managers of his Pontine lagoons.
As a member of the Editorial Board of Ecological Modelling, he was a willing and thorough reviewer, and organized the special edition (Volume 186) dedicated to modelling the Esteros del Iberá wetland ecosystem. His passing in February this year, at the young age of 62, is a terrible loss to his colleagues and friends from across the globe. References Baeta, A., Niquil, N., Marques, J.C., Patrício, J., 2011. Modelling the effects of eutrophication, mitigation measures and an extreme flood event on estuarine benthic food webs. Ecol. Model. 222 (6), 1209–1221. Grimm, V., Berger, U., DeAngelis, D.L., Polhill, J.G., Giske, J., Railsback, S.F., 2010. The ODD protocol: a review and first update. Ecol. Model. 221 (23), 2760–2768. Kurz, W.A., Dymond, C.C., White, T.M., Stinson, G., Shaw, C.H., Rampley, G.J., Smyth, C., Simpson, B.N., Neilson, E.T., Trofymow, J.A., Metsaranta, J., Apps, M.J., 2009. CBM-CFS3: a model of carbon-dynamics in forestry and land-use change implementing IPCC standards. Ecol. Model. 220 (4), 480–504. Jørgensen, S.E., Fath, B.D., Grant, W., Nielsen, S.N., 2006. The editorial policy of Ecological Modelling. Ecol. Model. 199 (1), 1–3. Lenz-Wiedemann, V.I.S., Klar, C.W., Schneider, K., 2010. Development and test of a crop growth model for application within a global change decision support system. Ecol. Model. 221 (2), 314–329. Shanin, V., Komarov, A., Mikhailov, A., Bykhovets, S., 2011. Modelling carbon and nitrogen dynamics in forest ecosystems of Central Russia under different climate change scenarios and forest management regimes. Ecol. Model. 222 (14), 2262–2275. Singh, K.P., Basant, A., Malik, A., Jain, G., 2009. Artificial neural network modeling of the river water quality – a case study. Ecol. Model. 220 (6), 888–895. Su, M.R., Yang, Z.F., Chen, B., Ulgiati, S., 2009. Urban ecosystem health assessment based on emergy and set pair analysis – a comparative study of typical Chinese cities. Ecol. Model. 220 (18), 2341–2348. VanDerWal, J., Shoo, L.P., Graham, C., Williams, S.E., 2009. Selecting pseudo-absence data for presence-only distribution modeling: how far should you stray from what you know? Ecol. Model. 220 (4), 589–594.
Brian D. Fath ∗ Naples, Italy ∗ Correspondence
address: Biology Department, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] Available online 20 March 2012
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Ecological Modelling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolmodel
Editorial
Editorial policy and update
This editorial has two objectives. The first is to reconfirm the journals policy and scope. The second is to provide a brief update on the journal status and International Society of Ecological Modelling (ISEM) activities. 1. Editorial policy Regarding the first objective, we most recently provided a thorough framework for authors in an editorial published in 2006 (Jørgensen et al., 2006). The editors have followed this framework in deciding which papers are within the journal scope. Due to the large increase in the number of submissions during the ensuing years, we have had to maintain a fairly strict interpretation of this scope, and as such the rejection rate has increased. Some authors may not be aware of this framework so it is repeated below. (1) All papers must present a new model or a new contribution to systems ecology. (2) Papers based on the use of statistical analyses on ecological data cannot be accepted. There are other journals that publish the use of statistics in ecology. (3) Papers that apply an existing model to a new case study will not be published as research articles. Unique case studies can be published as a short communication (a few pages only) but are more appropriate for specialty or national/regional journals. (4) Papers should include the support of ecological data for calibration and validation. (5) All papers should highlight the model’s novelty compared with previous models focusing on the same or approximately the same topic and ecosystem. The readers inevitably will ask: why should I use this new model and not an existing one? (6) The journal is called Ecological Modelling, which means that we want to publish papers on models of ecosystems or ecological processes, not models of physical or technological systems. For example, models of strictly atmospheric, chemical, or hydrological systems have other outlets. The models should bring new ecological knowledge and should emphasize the ecological implications of the model results. There is rapid rise in the need for integrated socio-ecological models which fall within the journal scope, but the focus must be on the ecological aspects not the sociological or economic. (7) New results in ecological theory are welcome, but the authors must emphasize the paper novelty. The papers must present how the paper expands our knowledge and if possible how we can utilize this new knowledge in ecological modelling or in our general understanding of ecosystems. 0304-3800/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2012.02.019
(8) New results in modelling theory are also welcome; but with the implications of an ecological model that has been improved by this new modelling theory. (9) New controversial results are also welcome. We do not have in Ecological Modelling an editorial policy to reject papers that are not in accordance with orthodox theories. On the contrary, we encourage new ideas even if they are controversial because that will inevitably lead to new scientific results. In this context, you have the possibility to publish a letter to the editor, which can be used to start a discussion among the readers on new but still not fully accepted ideas.
This refined editorial policy is encapsulated in the following short questions, which are applied during the review process:
(A) Does the paper focus on an ecological model or on systems ecology? (B) Are the results original and novel? (C) Does the paper clearly emphasize the scientific progress compared with existing literature? (D) Are the results based on ecological observations? (E) Is the ecological component sufficiently strong? All five questions must be answered by “yes” for a paper to be considered for publication. Papers not meeting these standards will be rejected by the handling editor prior to external peer review. In addition to these five questions about the content of the paper, the following questions focus on the presentation of the results: (F) Has the model been presented by a conceptual diagram? (G) Has the model been presented in such details that the reader is able to develop the model? In Ecological Modelling “Material and Methods” is the model. Note, this does not mean that computer code must be in the text of every paper, but enough information should be given. (H) Are the state variables, forcing functions, and the parameters clearly defined and dimensionalized (preferably in a table)? (I) Are the equations presented in sufficient detail? Should they be presented in an appendix (or on-line)? (J) Are all relevant references included? (K) Does the discussion focus on the scientific progress in ecological modelling (question C)? (L) Is the paper well written and the English language presentation clear?
vi
Editorial / Ecological Modelling 232 (2012) v–viii
Fig. 2. Decrease in editorial handling time since 2007. Fig. 1. Juan Blanco, recipient of the 2011 Ecological Modelling Outstanding Reviewer Award.
These seven presentation questions will be considered in the review process, and if some of the questions will be answered by “no”, then minor, moderate, or major revisions will be required. We would like to encourage the authors of papers to be submitted to Ecological Modelling to use these 12 questions (A–L) when they are reviewing their own paper before submission to reduce the probability for rejection. If one of the questions A–E will be answered by no, then Ecological Modelling is not the right scientific journal for your paper. We hope that this editorial policy will result in the submission of higher quality papers because the authors will know before submission if a paper fits to the editorial policy of Ecological Modelling. The end result will be a higher quality journal, which benefits both authors and readers.
Table 1 Most cited publications since 2009. # citations
Reference
38
Kurz, W.A., Dymond, C.C., White, T.M., Stinson, G., Shaw, C.H., Rampley, G.J., Smyth, C., Simpson, B.N., Neilson, E.T., Trofymow, J.A., Metsaranta, J., Apps, M.J., 2009. CBM-CFS3: a model of carbon-dynamics in forestry and land-use change implementing IPCC standards. Ecol. Model. 220 (4), 480–504. VanDerWal, J., Shoo, L.P., Graham, C., Williams, S.E., 2009. Selecting pseudo-absence data for presence-only distribution modeling: how far should you stray from what you know? Ecol. Model. 220 (4), 589–594. Grimm, V., Berger, U., DeAngelis, D.L. Polhill, J.G., Giske, J., Railsback, S.F., 2010. The ODD protocol: a review and first update. Ecol. Model. 221 (23), 2760–2768. Singh, K.P., Basant, A., Malik, A., Jain, G., 2009. Artificial neural network modeling of the river water quality – a case study. Ecol. Model. 220 (6), 888–895. Su, M.R., Yang, Z.F., Chen, B., Ulgiati, S., 2009. Urban ecosystem health assessment based on emergy and set pair analysis – a comparative study of typical Chinese cities. Ecol. Model. 220 (18), 2341–2348.
38
27
25
25
2. Journal and society update 2.1. Ecological Modelling update The editor wants to acknowledge the work of the four associate editors: William Grant, Alexander Komarov, Søren Nors Nielsen, and Santanu Ray, as well as honorary editor Sven Jorgensen and the countless number of reviewers who have provided peer feedback on the scientific quality of the submitted work. As a way of thanking the reviewers for their hard work, Elsevier offers the following benefits: • • • • • • • •
Free 30-day access to SciVerse Scopus Advice and practical information from Elsevier journal editors Online Reviewers’ Information Pack Online support 24/7 via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) Live chat service from a dedicated Customer Support Team Quarterly Reviewers’ Update On-demand webinar: A 20:20 Vision on the Future of Peer Review Free mentoring booklet: Charting a course for a successful research career, written by 30-year research veteran Prof. Alan Johnson
In addition to these services, Ecological Modelling also awarded its second “Outstanding Reviewer Award”, in 2011 going to Juan Blanco now at the Dep. Ciencias del Medio Natural, Universidad Publica de Navarra, Spain (Fig. 1). During the period 2009–2011, Dr. Blanco accepted 16 of 17 reviewer requests and completed
them in an average of 9 days. More importantly, his reviews were thoughtful, comprehensive, and provided the authors with valuable feedback on the manuscripts. The work of the reviewers is especially important in light of the fact that the number of submissions to the journal remains high (almost 900 in 2010 and 800 in 2011). Each paper needs two reviews, so that is a lot of demand for reviewing. And, the international reach of the journal is high evident in that papers were published with authors from over 50 countries in 2011. Many of the recent papers published in Ecological Modelling are having a major impact on the field. The five top-cited papers published since 2009 are given in Table 1. In spite of these high citation papers, the overall journal ISI impact factor dropped slightly in 2010, most likely attributable to the lower number of published documents in 2010 (Table 2). The Table 2 Number of publications and impact factor. Year
Impact factor
Number of printed documents
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
2.077 2.176 1.871 1.769
426 385 345 305 389
Editorial / Ecological Modelling 232 (2012) v–viii
vii
Fig. 3. (a) Journal reputation, (b) overall satisfaction as reported in author surveys.
impact factor is sensitive to the number of publications and a pyramidal growth in papers will inflate the impact factor. By tightening the scope and increasing the rejection rate, those numbers were temporarily working against us, but hopefully resulting in a higher quality product in the long run. Furthermore, significant progress is being made to lower the editorial handling time of manuscripts (Fig. 2). We have also recently moved to “Article-based publishing” which means that papers go online with a volume and page number citation as soon as they are ready, eliminating the concern over print production time delays. The journal continues to maintain its reputation as the preferred outlet for Ecological Models as evidenced by the author survey returns (Fig. 3a and b).
2.2. International Society for Ecological Modelling update The International Society for Ecological Modelling (ISEM) held its 18th biennial conference in Beijing, China September 20–23. The meeting was very professionally and smoothly arranged by the local organizing committee, particularly by the team at Beijing Normal University, School of Environment, Zifeng Yang, Bin Chen, Meirong Su, and many others. The conference welcomed 400 participants over four days of intense and productive sessions, discussions, and social activities (Fig. 4). During the meeting, ISEM announced the winners of the 2nd biennial “Best Young Researcher Award (Fig. 5).” First prize went to Vladimir Shanin from Russia for his paper titled: Modelling carbon and nitrogen dynamics in forest ecosystems of Central Russia under different climate change
Fig. 4. Sven Erik Jørgensen delivering a keynote lecture at the recent ISEM meeting in Beijing, China.
scenarios and forest management regimes (Shanin et al., 2011). The prize included conference registration and $1000 travel grant. Two second prizes were given, one to Alexandra Baeta from Portugal and another to Victoria Lenz-Wiedemann of Germany, which included conference registration and a $500 travel grant. Their papers were,
Fig. 5. ISEM Best Young Researcher Award winners. (a) Vladimir Shanin, (b) Alexandra Baeta, (c) Victoria Lenz-Wiedmann.
viii
Editorial / Ecological Modelling 232 (2012) v–viii
respectively: Modelling the effects of eutrophication, mitigation measures and an extreme flood event on estuarine benthic food webs (Baeta et al., 2011) and Development and test of a crop growth model for application within a Global Change decision support system (LenzWiedemann et al., 2010). Support for the young researcher awards is provided by Elsevier. ISEM is a co-sponsor of the upcoming EcoSummit (www.ecosummit2012.org), scheduled for September 30–October 5, 2012 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Furthermore, the next ISEM meeting will be held in fall 2013 with the location to be announced shortly. Refer to the ISEM website (www.isemna.org) for updated details. Lastly, we unfortunately end with the sad news of the parting of a long-term board member, Vincent Hull, who passed away in early February 2012. He was remembered fondly by his colleagues with the following words: Vincent Hull graduated from 1980 University of Messina with a degree in Biology. From his early passion for aquatic ecology, he set out to become one of the leading voices in Europe for the application of mathematical modelling approaches in ecological studies. He founded the Italian School of Ecological Modelling, somehow finding enough funding every year to invite young ecologists and mathematicians to this groundbreaking event. As in many of his activities, Vincent succeeded in putting together people from different scientific and cultural backgrounds in a productive and stimulating environment. Vincent was always ready to help a junior colleague or point a curious student in the right direction. His early explorations into the study of inter-species relationships resulted in new applications of qualitative and quantitative modelling of feedbacks in marine and lake environments. His favourite laboratory was the Pontine lagoons in central Italy, where he dedicated more than 20 years exploring the ecological processes through classical analytical methods coupled with new developments in mathematical modelling. His exploration into the chaotic behaviour of oxygen dynamics in the water column and the sediment of these shallow lagoons provided inspiration to scores of younger scientists. By the time he received his doctorate from the University of Siena, he had already guided students in Italy, Argentina, Japan, Ukraine and Paraguay through the intricacies of applied modelling of environmental phenomena. In recent years, Vincent began to apply his knowledge of ecosystem dynamics for the benefit of the fish farmers and reserve managers of his Pontine lagoons.
As a member of the Editorial Board of Ecological Modelling, he was a willing and thorough reviewer, and organized the special edition (Volume 186) dedicated to modelling the Esteros del Iberá wetland ecosystem. His passing in February this year, at the young age of 62, is a terrible loss to his colleagues and friends from across the globe. References Baeta, A., Niquil, N., Marques, J.C., Patrício, J., 2011. Modelling the effects of eutrophication, mitigation measures and an extreme flood event on estuarine benthic food webs. Ecol. Model. 222 (6), 1209–1221. Grimm, V., Berger, U., DeAngelis, D.L., Polhill, J.G., Giske, J., Railsback, S.F., 2010. The ODD protocol: a review and first update. Ecol. Model. 221 (23), 2760–2768. Kurz, W.A., Dymond, C.C., White, T.M., Stinson, G., Shaw, C.H., Rampley, G.J., Smyth, C., Simpson, B.N., Neilson, E.T., Trofymow, J.A., Metsaranta, J., Apps, M.J., 2009. CBM-CFS3: a model of carbon-dynamics in forestry and land-use change implementing IPCC standards. Ecol. Model. 220 (4), 480–504. Jørgensen, S.E., Fath, B.D., Grant, W., Nielsen, S.N., 2006. The editorial policy of Ecological Modelling. Ecol. Model. 199 (1), 1–3. Lenz-Wiedemann, V.I.S., Klar, C.W., Schneider, K., 2010. Development and test of a crop growth model for application within a global change decision support system. Ecol. Model. 221 (2), 314–329. Shanin, V., Komarov, A., Mikhailov, A., Bykhovets, S., 2011. Modelling carbon and nitrogen dynamics in forest ecosystems of Central Russia under different climate change scenarios and forest management regimes. Ecol. Model. 222 (14), 2262–2275. Singh, K.P., Basant, A., Malik, A., Jain, G., 2009. Artificial neural network modeling of the river water quality – a case study. Ecol. Model. 220 (6), 888–895. Su, M.R., Yang, Z.F., Chen, B., Ulgiati, S., 2009. Urban ecosystem health assessment based on emergy and set pair analysis – a comparative study of typical Chinese cities. Ecol. Model. 220 (18), 2341–2348. VanDerWal, J., Shoo, L.P., Graham, C., Williams, S.E., 2009. Selecting pseudo-absence data for presence-only distribution modeling: how far should you stray from what you know? Ecol. Model. 220 (4), 589–594.
Brian D. Fath ∗ Naples, Italy ∗ Correspondence
address: Biology Department, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] Available online 20 March 2012