Remembering John Steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems
John Steele (1926–2013) is remembered for his ecosystem modelling studies on the role of biological interactions and environment on the structure and function of marine ecosystems, including consequences for fish production and fisheries management. Here, we provide a scientific tribute to Steele fo...
Published in: | Journal of Plankton Research |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Oxford University Press
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6862939/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31768080 https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbz042 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6862939 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6862939 2023-05-15T17:33:49+02:00 Remembering John Steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems Anderson, Thomas R Gentleman, Wendy C 2019-09 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6862939/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31768080 https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbz042 en eng Oxford University Press http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6862939/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31768080 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbz042 © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Original Article Text 2019 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbz042 2019-12-01T01:25:21Z John Steele (1926–2013) is remembered for his ecosystem modelling studies on the role of biological interactions and environment on the structure and function of marine ecosystems, including consequences for fish production and fisheries management. Here, we provide a scientific tribute to Steele focusing on, by means of example, his modelling of plankton predation [Steele and Henderson (1992) The role of predation in plankton models. J. Plankton Res., 14, 157–172] that showed that differences in ecosystem dynamics between the subarctic Pacific and North Atlantic oceans can be explained solely on the basis of zooplankton mortality. The study highlights Steele’s artistry in simplifying the system to a tractable minimal model while paying great attention to the precise functional forms used to parameterize mortality, grazing and other biological processes. The success of this and other works by Steele was in large part due to his effective communication with the rest of the scientific community (especially non-modellers) resulting from his enthusiasm, use of an experiment-like (hypothesis driven) approach to applying his models and by describing simplifications and assumptions in scrupulous detail. We also intend our contribution to remember Steele as the consummate gentleman, notably his humble, behind-the-scenes attitude, his humour and his dedication to enhancing the careers of others. Text North Atlantic Subarctic PubMed Central (PMC) Pacific Steele ENVELOPE(-60.710,-60.710,-70.980,-70.980) Journal of Plankton Research 41 5 609 620 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Original Article |
spellingShingle |
Original Article Anderson, Thomas R Gentleman, Wendy C Remembering John Steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems |
topic_facet |
Original Article |
description |
John Steele (1926–2013) is remembered for his ecosystem modelling studies on the role of biological interactions and environment on the structure and function of marine ecosystems, including consequences for fish production and fisheries management. Here, we provide a scientific tribute to Steele focusing on, by means of example, his modelling of plankton predation [Steele and Henderson (1992) The role of predation in plankton models. J. Plankton Res., 14, 157–172] that showed that differences in ecosystem dynamics between the subarctic Pacific and North Atlantic oceans can be explained solely on the basis of zooplankton mortality. The study highlights Steele’s artistry in simplifying the system to a tractable minimal model while paying great attention to the precise functional forms used to parameterize mortality, grazing and other biological processes. The success of this and other works by Steele was in large part due to his effective communication with the rest of the scientific community (especially non-modellers) resulting from his enthusiasm, use of an experiment-like (hypothesis driven) approach to applying his models and by describing simplifications and assumptions in scrupulous detail. We also intend our contribution to remember Steele as the consummate gentleman, notably his humble, behind-the-scenes attitude, his humour and his dedication to enhancing the careers of others. |
format |
Text |
author |
Anderson, Thomas R Gentleman, Wendy C |
author_facet |
Anderson, Thomas R Gentleman, Wendy C |
author_sort |
Anderson, Thomas R |
title |
Remembering John Steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems |
title_short |
Remembering John Steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems |
title_full |
Remembering John Steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
Remembering John Steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Remembering John Steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems |
title_sort |
remembering john steele and his models for understanding the structure and function of marine ecosystems |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6862939/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31768080 https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbz042 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-60.710,-60.710,-70.980,-70.980) |
geographic |
Pacific Steele |
geographic_facet |
Pacific Steele |
genre |
North Atlantic Subarctic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Subarctic |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6862939/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31768080 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbz042 |
op_rights |
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbz042 |
container_title |
Journal of Plankton Research |
container_volume |
41 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
609 |
op_container_end_page |
620 |
_version_ |
1766132453992300544 |