Research Focus
My primary research interest is the ecology of tropical rainforests, plant-animal interactions and theoretical ecology. Along with Robin Foster (now at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago), I founded the 50-hectare forest dynamics plot on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal. The plot became the model for the Center for Tropical Forest Science, which is now the Smithsonian Institution’s Forest Global Earth Observatory, or ForestGEO, a network of more than 60 forest research plots that follow identical protocols to study forest function and diversity. I am the author of the unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography, a hypothesis that aims to explain the diversity and relative abundance of species in ecological communities.
Please note: My lab is currently not accepting new applications for STRI internships.
Contact
Education
B.A., Carleton College 1963
Ph.D., UC Berkeley 1969
D.Sc., Theoretical Ecology, Carleton College (Honorary Doctorate) 2006
Selected Publications
Hubbell, SP, "Foreword", The Ecology of Lianas, Schnitzer, SA., Bongers, F, Burnham, RJ, Putz, FE(Eds.), Oxford, UK Blackwell 1-4 (2014).
Cushman, KC, Muller-Landau, HC, Condit, RS, Hubbell, SP, "Improving estimates of biomass chance in buttressed trees using tree taper models", Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Schnitzer, SA., Bongers, F, Burnham, RJ, Putz, FE(Eds.), 5 : 573-581 (2014).
Inman-Narahari, F., Ostertag, R., Asner, G., Cordell, S, Hubbell, SP, Sack, L., "Trade-offs in seedling growth and survival within and across tropical forest microhabitats", Ecology and Evolution, Schnitzer, SA., Bongers, F, Burnham, RJ, Putz, FE(Eds.), 5 : - (2014).
Schnitzer, SA, Mangan, SA, Hubbell, SP, "The lianas of Barro Colorado Island, Panama", In: The Ecology of Lianas, Schnitzer, SA., Bongers, F, Burnham, RJ, Putz, FE(Eds.), Oxford, UK Blackwell 5 : - (2014) .
Chisholm, R. A., R. Condit, K. Abd. Rahman, P, J. Baker, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, Y.-Y. Chen, G. Chuyong, H. S. Dattaraja, S. Davies, C. E. N. Ewango, C. V. S. Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N. Gunatilleke, S. P. Hubbell, D. Kenfack, S. Kiratiprayoon, Y. Lin, J.-R. Makana, N. Pongpattananurak, S. Pulla, R. Punchi-Manage, R. Sukumar, S.-H. Su, I.-F. Sun, H. S. Suresh, S. Tan, D. Thomas, S. Yap., "Empirical variability of forest communities: empirical estimates of population change in 4000 tree species", Ecology Letters, Schnitzer, SA., Bongers, F, Burnham, RJ, Putz, FE(Eds.), 17 : 855-885 (2014).
Marquet, P, Allen, A, Brown, J, Dunne, J, Enquist, B, Gilloly, J, Gowaty, PA, Green, J, Harte, J, Hubbell, SP, O'Dwyer, J, Okie, J, Ostling, A, Ritchie, M, Storch, D, West, G., "On theory in ecology", Bioscience, Schnitzer, SA., Bongers, F, Burnham, RJ, Putz, FE(Eds.), 64 : 701-710 (2014).
Muller-Landau, HC, Detto, M, Chisholm, RA, Hubbell, SP, Condit, R., "Detecting and predicting changes in forest biomass from plot data", In: Forests and Global Change, Coomes, DA, Burslem, DFRP, Simonson, WD(Eds.), Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 64 : 381-414 (2014).
Stephenson, N. L., A. J. Das, R. Condit, S. E. Russo, P. J. Baker, N. G. Geckman, D. A. Coomes, E. R. Lines, W. CK. Morris, N. Roger, E. Alvarez, C. Blundo, S. Bunyavejchewin, G. Chuyong, S. J. Davies, ?. Duque, C. N. Ewango, O. Flores, J. F. Franklin, J. R. Grau, Z. Hao, M. E. Harmon, S. P. Hubbell, D. Kenfack, Y. Liu, J.-R. Makana, A. Malizia, L. R. Malizia, R. J Pabst, N. Pongpattananurak, S.-H. Su, I.-F. Sun, S. Tan, D. Thomas, P. J. van Mantgen, X. Wang, S. K. Wiser, M. A. Zavala, "Rate of tree carbon accumulation increases continuously with tree size", Nature, Coomes, DA, Burslem, DFRP, Simonson, WD(Eds.), 507 : 90-93 (2014).
Gowaty, PA, Hubbell, SP, "Bayesian animals sense ecological constraints to predict fitness and organize individually flexible reproductive decision", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Coomes, DA, Burslem, DFRP, Simonson, WD(Eds.), 36 (3): 215-216 (2013).
Chisholm, R. A., H. C. Muller-Landau, K. A. Rahman, D. P. Beber, Y. Bin, S. A. Bohman, N. A. Bourg, J. Brinks, S. Bunyavejchewin, N. Butt, H. Cao, M. Cao, D. Cardenas, L.-W. Chang, J.M. Chiang, G. Chuyong, R. Condit, H. S. Dattaraja, S. Davies, A. Duque, C. Fletcher, N. Gunatilleke, S. Gunatilleke, Z. Haom R. D. Harrison, R. Howe, C.-F Hsieh,, S. P. Hubbell, A. Itoh, D. Kenfack, S. Kiratiprayoon, A. J. Larson, J. Lian, D. Linn, H. Liu, J. A. Lutz, K. Ma, Y. Malhi, S. McMahon, W. McShea, M. Meega, "Scale-dependent relationships between tree species richness and ecosystem function in forests", Journal of Ecology, Coomes, DA, Burslem, DFRP, Simonson, WD(Eds.), 101 : 1214-1224 (2013).