Positions:

1995-present	Vice Chair, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara
1991-present	Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara
1989-1991	Professor, Department of Statistics and Modeling Science, University of Strathclyde, Scotland
1985-1989	Personal Professor in Applied Physics, University of Strathclyde
1986-1988	Chair, Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Strathclyde
1985	Visiting Research Biologist, University of California, Santa Barbara
1983-1985	Reader in Applied Physics, University of Strathclyde
1977-1979	Seconded from Strathclyde to University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, as Senior Lecturer in School of Natural Resources
1972-1977	Lecturer in Applied Physics, University of Strathclyde

Distinctions:

1991	Elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Edingburg
1987	Van de Klaauw Chair in Biology, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
1971-72	Nuffield Biological Scholarship
1968-71	Carnegie Scholarship

Research Interests:

After Ph.D. research in statistical physics, Nisbet's main research interest since 1972 has been ecological modeling. Recent work has emphasized individual-based population models which aim to relate population dynamics to the physiology and behavior of individual members of a population; in particular methods for formulating tractable models of stage structured populations. These (and other) methods have been applied to the study of fluctuations in zooplankton populations, to investigations of stability and fluctuations in host-parasitoid systems, and to an investigation of the effects of toxicants on the dynamics of mussel populations. Individual-based and more traditional population models are being used in studies of population response to different forms of ecological stress. Over 90 refereed publications including one book and one monograph.

Selected Publications:

• Wilson, W.G., C.W. Osenberg, R.J. Schmitt, and R.M. Nisbet. Complementary foraging behavior allows co-existence of two grazers. Ecology. In press.
• De Roos, A.M., E. McCauley, R.M. Nisbet. W.S.C. Gurney, and W.W. Murdoch. What individual life histories can (and cannot) tell about population dynamics. Aquatic Ecology. In press.
• Nisbet, R.M., S. Diehl, W.G. Wilson, S.D. Cooper, D.D. Donalson, and K. Kratz. 1997. Primary productivity gradients and short-term population dynamics in open systems, Ecological Monograph 67:535-553.
• Wilson, W.G. and R.M. Nisbet. 1997. Cooperation and competition along smooth environmental gradients. Ecology 78:2004-2017.
• Nisbet, R.M., E.B. Muller, A.J. Brooks, and P. Hosseini. 1997. Models relating individual and population response to contaminants,. Environmental Modeling and Assessment 2:7-12.
• Murdoch, W.W., C.J. Briggs, and R.M. Nisbet. 1997. Dynamical effects of host-size and parasitoid state-dependent attacks by parasitoids. Journal of Animal Ecology 66:542-556.
• Muller, E.B. and R.M. Nisbet. 1997. Modeling the effect of toxicants on the parameters of dynamic energy budget models. Pp. 71-81 in: Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment: Modeling and Risk Assessments (Sixth Volume) F.J. Dwyer, T.R. Doane, and ML. Hinman, eds. American Society for Testing and Materials.
• Nisbet, R.M. 1997. Delay differential equations for structured populations. Pp. 89-118 in: Structured Population Model, H. Caswell and S. Tuljapurkar eds. Chapman and Hall.
• Middleton, D.A.J. and R.M. Nisbet. 1997. Population persistence time: estimates, models, mechanisms. Ecological Applications 7:107-117.
• Gurney, W.S.C., D.A.J. Middleton, R.M. Nisbet, E. McCauley, W.W. Murdoch, and A.M. DeRoos. 1996. Individual energetics and the equilibrium demography of structured populations. Theor. Pop. Biol. 49:344-368.
• McCauley, E., R.M. Nisbet, A.M. DeRoos, W.W. Murdoch, and W.S.C. Gurney. 1996. Structured population models of herbivorous zooplankton. Ecological Monographs 66:479-501.
• Murdoch, W.W., C.J. Briggs, and R.M. Nisbet. 1996. Competitive displacement and biological control in parasitoids - a model. American Naturalist 148:807-826.
• Nisbet, R.M., W.W. Murdoch ,and A. Stewart-Oaten. 1996. Consequences for adult-fish stocks of human-induced mortality of immatures. Pp. 157-177 in: Detecting Ecological Impacts: Concepts and Applications in Coastal Habitats, R.J. Schmitt and C.W. Osenberg, eds. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
• Nisbet, R.M., A.H. Ross, and A.J. Brooks. 1996. Empirically-based dynamic energy budget models: theory and an application to ecotoxicology. Nonlinear World 3:85-106.
• Nisbet, R.M. and S.N. Wood. 1996. Estimation of copepod mortality rates. Ophelia 44:157-169.
• Shea, K., R.M. Nisbet, W.W. Murdoch, and H.J. Yoo. 1996. The effect of egg limitation in insect host-parasitoid population models. J. Anim. Ecol. 65:743-755.
• Wilson, W.G., R.M. Nisbet, A.H. Ross, C. Robles, and R. Desharnais. 1996. Abrupt population changes along slowly varying environmental gradients. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 58:907-922.
• Briggs, C.J., R.M. Nisbet, W.W. Murdoch, T.R. Collier, and J.A.J. Metz. 1995. Dynamic effects of host-feeding in parasitoids. J. Anim. Ecol. 64:403-416.
• Gurney, W.S.C., D.A.J. Middleton, A.H. Ross, R.M. Nisbet, E. McCauley, W.W. Murdoch, and A.M. DeRoos. 1995. Modeling techniques and data requirements in aquatic management. Pp. 86-97 in: Aquatic Predators and their Prey, S. #008000street, ed., Blackwells, Oxford, UK.
• Middleton, D.M., A.R. Veitch, and R.M. Nisbet. 1995. The effect of an upper limit to population size on persistence time. Theor. Pop. Biol. 48:277-305.
• Collier, T.R., W.W. Murdoch, and R.M. Nisbet. 1994. Egg load and the decision to host feeding in Aphytis melinus. J. Anim. Ecol. 63:299-306.