Lev R. Ginzburg

Lev Ginzburg was born in 1945 in Moscow, Russia, but grew up in St. Petersburg, at the time Leningrad. He studied mathematics and theoretical mechanics at Leningrad State University (M.S. in 1967) and received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the Agrophysical Research Institute in 1970. He worked at this Institute until the Spring of 1975 and emigrated to the United States in December 1975. After several months at the Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei (Rome, Italy), and one year at the Mathematics Department at Northeastern University (Boston, MA), he was a professor at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University from 1977 until his retirement in 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.ramas.com/ginzburg|title=About|publisher=ramas.com|access-date=13 Jun 2019}}

In 1982, Ginzburg founded and has since run Applied Biomathematics, a research and software firm focused on conservation biology and ecology. The company developed new methods for the assessment of risk and uncertainty in these areas.{{cite web|url=http://www.ramas.com/copy-of-ramas-software-price-list |title=RAMAS Software by Applied Biomathematics |publisher=Ramas.com |access-date=2019-05-09}}

Ginzburg’s most known academic work is a theory of predation (the ratio-dependent or Arditi-Ginzburg equations) that is an alternative to the classic prey-dependent Lotka-Volterra model.{{Cite journal|last1=Arditi|first1=R.|last2=Ginzburg|first2=L.R.|year=1989|title=Coupling in predator-prey dynamics: ratio dependence|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_c3c9acf769524b6b9ae7e0800e931c25.pdf|journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology|volume=139|issue=3|pages=311–326|doi=10.1016/s0022-5193(89)80211-5|bibcode=1989JThBi.139..311A}} His book, with Roger Arditi, How Species Interact, summarizes their proposed alteration of the standard view.{{Cite journal|last=Peterson|first=R.|year=2013|title=It's a Wonderful Gift|url=http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_a68d17148e4042139bbb4a4ef6f046ab.pdf|journal=Science|volume=339|issue=6116|pages=142–143|doi=10.1126/science.1232024|bibcode=2013Sci...339..142P|s2cid=178415886}} The recent editions of the standard college Ecology textbook{{Cite book|last1=Molles|first1=Manuel|url=https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/ecology-concepts-applications-molles-sher/M9781259880056.html|title=Ecology: Concepts and Applications|last2=Sher|first2=Anna|publisher=McGraw-Hill Education|year=2018|isbn=9781259880056 |author-link2=Anna Sher}} devote equal space to the Lotka-Volterra and Arditi-Ginzburg equations. His concept of inertial growth or an explanation of population cycles, based upon maternal effect model, is the main point of his book written with Mark Colyvan, Ecological Orbits,{{Cite journal|last=Wagner|first=G.|year=2005|title=Mothers Driving Cycles|url=http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_88d33160678b4eea9c1c10d8c0c371cc.pdf|journal=Science|volume=309|issue=5743|pages=2001|doi=10.1126/science.1119382|s2cid=129032779}} and a more recent paper co-authored with Charley Krebs.{{cite journal | last1 = Ginzburg | first1 = L | last2 = Krebs | first2 = C | year = 2015 | title = Mammalian cycles: internally defined periods and interaction driven amplitudes | journal = PeerJ | volume = 3 | page = e1180 | doi=10.7717/peerj.1180 | pmid=26339557 | pmc=4558083 | doi-access = free }} His current interest is an evolutionary theory of non-adaptive selection (selective disappearance of unstable configurations).{{cite journal | last1 = Ginzburg | first1 = L.R. | last2 = Burger | first2 = O. | last3 = Damuth | first3 = J. | year = 2010 | title = The May threshold and life history allometry | journal = Biology Letters | volume = 6 | issue = 6| pages = 850–853 | doi=10.1098/rsbl.2010.0452 | pmid=20591855 | pmc=3001382}}{{cite journal|last1=Borrelli|first1=J.|last2=Allesina|first2=S.|last3=Arditi|first3=R.|last4=Chase|first4=I.|last5=Damuth|first5=J.|last6=Holt|first6=R.|last7=Logofet|first7=D.|last8=Rohr|first8=R.|last9=Rossberg|first9=A.|year=2015|title=Selection on stability across ecological scales|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_33b7341743f846e887bc82c34cc31f26.pdf|journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution|volume=30|issue=7|pages=417–425|doi=10.1016/j.tree.2015.05.001|pmid=26067808|last10=Spencer|first10=M.|last11=Tran|first11=K.|last12=Ginzburg|first12=L.R.|bibcode=2015TEcoE..30..417B |s2cid=7896907 }} His most recent book, written with John Damuth, Nonadaptive Selection: An Evolutionary Source of Ecological Laws, relates to this area of research.{{cite web|url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo244157692.html|title=Nonadaptive Selection: An Evolutionary Source of Ecological Laws|publisher=UChicago Press|access-date=2025-03-06}}

The 2018 study{{Cite journal|last1=Courchamp|first1=Franck|last2=Bradshaw|first2=Corey J. A.|date=February 2018|title=100 articles every ecologist should read|url=http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_31ab1ea20ed247e7a4ce788506304070.pdf|journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution|language=En|volume=2|issue=2|pages=395–401|doi=10.1038/s41559-017-0370-9|pmid=29133900|s2cid=4434969|issn=2397-334X}} has listed the 2004 Ginzburg and Jensen paper, "Rules of thumb for judging ecological theories"{{Cite journal|author=Lev R. Ginzburg|author2= Christopher X.J. Jensen|journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |volume=19 |number=3|year=2004 |url=http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_871171b22c0841a1bae1717ea2eb54ee.pdf|title=Rules of thumb for judging ecological theories}} as one of the 100 must-reads in the history of Ecology, a selection out of half a million papers since Darwin.

Applied Biomathematics was funded primarily by research grants and contracts from the U.S. government and private industry associations. Grants included awards from the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Agriculture, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Other project funding had come from the Electric Power Research Institute{{Cite web|url=https://www.epri.com/|title=EPRI Public Site|website=www.epri.com|language=en|access-date=2018-06-13}} and individual utility companies, healthcare, pharmaceutical and seed companies such as Pfizer, DuPont and Dow, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.[http://www.ramas.com/research-areas Research] by Applied Biomathematics Applied Biomathematics translated theoretical concepts from biology and the physical sciences into new mathematical and statistical methods to quantitatively solve practical problems in these areas using risk analysis and reliability assessments.[http://www.ramas.com/case-studies RAMAS: Technical software that anyone can use] In 2001, Ginzburg testified in the U.S. Senate on the quantitative aspects of endangered species legislation. Ginzburg's work in risk analysis and applied ecology had been conducted at Applied Biomathematics in collaboration with Scott Ferson and Resit Akcakaya, who are now professors at the University of Liverpool, UK, and Stony Brook University, New York, USA respectively. The methods and RAMAS software products developed by Applied Biomathematics are used by hundreds of academic institutions around the world, government agencies, and industrial and private labs in over 60 countries.[http://www.ramas.com/research-areas Applied Biomathematics' Research Strengths]

Ginzburg published over 200 scientific articles and ten books.{{Cite web|title= Lev R. Ginzburg Downloadable Articles|url=https://www.ramas.com/articles-by-lev-ginzburg}} {{Cite web|title=Lev R. Ginzburg Books and Reviews|url=https://www.ramas.com/books-by-lev-ginzburg}}

• Ginzburg, L. R. and Jensen, C. X. J. 2004. Rules of thumb for judging ecological theories. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 121-126.{{Cite web|title= Rules of thumb for judging ecological theories|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_871171b22c0841a1bae1717ea2eb54ee.pdf}}
• Abrams, P. A. and Ginzburg, L. R. 2000. The nature of predation: prey-dependent, ratio-dependent, or neither? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 15: 337-341.{{Cite web|title= The nature of predation: prey dependent, ratio dependent or neither?|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_de97ce0dc2b24c3a94756169201c945e.pdf}}
• Ginzburg, L. R. and Taneyhill, D. E. 1994. Population cycles of forest Lepidoptera: a maternal effect hypothesis. Journal of Animal Ecology 63: 79-92.{{Cite web|title= Population cycles of forest Lepidoptera: a maternal effect hypothesis|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_19ecbb9ce595430091ab022195d74a27.pdf}}
• Ginzburg, L. R. and Akçakaya, H. R. 1992. Consequences of ratio-dependent predation for steady state properties of ecosystems. Ecology 73(5):1536-1543.{{Cite web|title= Consequences of Ratio-Dependent Predation for Steady-State Properties of Ecosystems|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_cc132edf68b24d59a13ad95e66482505.pdf}}
• Arditi, R. and Ginzburg, L. R. 1989. Coupling in predatory-prey dynamics: ratio-dependence. Journal of Theoretical Biology 139:311-326.{{Cite web|title= Coupling in Predator-Prey Dynamics: Ratio-Dependence |url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_c3c9acf769524b6b9ae7e0800e931c25.pdf}}

• Ferson, S. and Ginzburg, L. R. 1996. Different methods are needed to propagate ignorance and variability. Reliability Engineering and Systems Safety 54:133-144.{{Cite web|title= Different methods are needed to propagate ignorance and variability|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_37400a010adf444d8cbc36ba88469006.pdf}}
• Ginzburg, L. R., Ferson, S. and Akçakaya, H. R. 1990. Reconstructability of density dependence and the conservative assessment of extinction risk. Conservation Biology 4:63-70.{{Cite web|title= Reconstructibility of Density Dependence and the Conservative Assessment of Extinction Risks|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_bbaa3f8458e9410296b568c80b65ea71.pdf}}
• Ginzburg, L. R., Slobodkin, L. B., Johnson, K. and Bindman, A. G. 1982. Quasiextinction probabilities as a measure of impact on population growth. Risk Analysis 2: 171-181.{{Cite web|title= Quasiextinction Probabilities as a Measure of Impact on Population Growth|url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/9b6d5d_28462fa432ff4e3abf43160d261e1a20.pdf}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://ramas.com Applied Biomathematics / RAMAS Software]
• [http://www.ramas.com/ginzburg Ginzburg Webpage]

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Category:1945 births

Category:Living people

Category:Russian ecologists

Category:Mathematical ecologists

Category:Evolutionary biologists

Category:Theoretical biologists

Category:Stony Brook University faculty

Category:People from Old Field, New York

Category:Saint Petersburg State University alumni

Category:Mathematicians from Moscow