Dr Daniel P Faith
Australian Museum Research Institute, The Australian Museum, Sydney.
Dan Faith’s research has built on degrees in mathematics (U. Chicago) and ecology and evolution (Stony Brook). PhD work on speciation in aphids (and exposure to systematics controversies) encouraged his early research on methods and philosophy in systematics/phylogenetics. This research is now integrated with Dan’s main research focus over the past 25 years: biodiversity conservation. Topics have included foundational work in freshwater biodiversity monitoring, systematic conservation planning, and multivariate biodiversity methods (mostly at CSIRO, Canberra). Related research includes his development and application of “phylogenetic diversity” (PD), a biodiversity measure based on the tree of life. His foundational 1992 paper, ‘Conservation evaluation and phylogenetic diversity” is the most cited paper ever in Biological Conservation, partly reflecting surprising applications (e.g., low “Faith’s PD” of our gut microbes is associated with many diseases). Policy-related research has linked to a Coordinating Lead Authorship for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, co-lead of an international evolution and biodiversity group (bioGENESIS), and contributions to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The policy-related research demands attention to philosophy of biodiversity (e.g. in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and in the Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Biodiversity).