Ed Tekwa Wins Ecological Society of America's Outstanding Theory Paper Award of 2019

Congratulations to Ed Tekwa, Eli Fenichel, Simon Levin, and Malin Pinsky, the winners of the Ecological Society of America's Outstanding Theory Paper Award of 2019!

Dr. Kim Cuddington, ESA theory section chair writes:
"In their PNAS paper 'Path-dependent institutions drive alternative stable states in conservation', the authors use both a new theoretical model and empirical analysis of 217 managed fisheries to demonstrate that ecological and institutional factors can produce historical contingencies which determine dynamics. Their model suggests that, if institutional response rate is slow relative to the ecological response, alternative stable states are possible. Harvest rates form a path-dependent pitchfork bifurcation so that similar institutions may end up in either an overharvesting or conservation stable state. The paper therefore offers a new explanation for the different statuses of fisheries with similar management, and new approaches for switching from overharvesting to conservation. Take a look (pnas.org/content/116/2/689)!"

Edward Tekwa is a postdoc at Rutgers' Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources working with Malin Pinsky.

August 2020