Celebrating Dr. Philip Darby's Impactful Career

| September 2025 Newsletter

As Dr. Phil Darby prepares to retire after 26 years of service to the UWF Department of Biology (and another 9 years working in conservation biology in general), we honor not only his contributions as a teacher and mentor, but also his influential research. Dr. Darby is widely recognized for his pioneering work deciphering the life history and population dynamics of apple snails, and linking their availability to the recovery of the endangered snail kite in Florida wetlands. His long-term collaborations with federal and state agencies and other conservation partners have advanced our understanding of how climate variability and human management affect wetlands and at-risk species.

Through data collected in the lab and from the field, and via population model forecasting, Dr. Darby's research has guided habitat management for threatened native species and non-native species alike. His work has been featured in 32 publications in 18 different peer-reviewed journals, and in over 50 agency reports and applied management plans. Dr. Darby leaves a lasting legacy of scholarship that has shaped both scientific knowledge and real-world environmental stewardship.

1. Career Highlights

What do you consider the most meaningful accomplishments of your time at UWF?

My most meaningful accomplishments relate to researching endangered snail kites and their nearly exclusive prey, apple snails. I led the research needed to collect the empirical data to unveil apple snail life history and impacts on their populations from multiple angles: developing protocols to estimate snail abundances needed to support kites; documenting snail survivorship and reproduction under a range of conditions; reporting the influences of water quantity and quality; and identifying critical habitat structure to support snail populations. The deliverables emerging from my research program have directly influenced management and restoration in central and south Florida wetlands. It is this body of work that has and continues to be most meaningful. My fortunate level of productivity included contributions from over 100 students, staff, collaborators, and funding partners, to which I am eternally grateful.

From the teaching perspective (nearly 5,000 students while here at UWF), I very much enjoyed developing course content and weaving together themes to connect the dots over a wide range of topics covered in my classes. Although my signature classes were wetlands ecology, quantitative ecology, and Avian Science, I also enjoyed my 15 years of teaching general biology for non-majors. Gen Bio kept me rooted in biology basics, from biochemistry up through community ecology. Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive, and that has meant a lot to me.

Are there any particular research projects, publications, or teaching experiences that stand out?

For decades it was assumed apple snails had no tolerance to wetlands drying out (which often happens in the Everglades). We showed that adult apple snails survive 3 months in dry conditions. Our finding upended the decades-old concerns for water management in wetlands critical to kites. Piecing together the life history of Florida apple snails (which took over 10 years and a dozen studies) also stands out.

During my time at UWF, we formed a non-profit (The Pomacea Project, Patty Valentine-Darby director, myself as technical adviser) that was awarded a contract to write a report (2013, essentially a book) summarizing kite and snail literature going back to the 1960s. This report had 15 peer reviewers. We had a recommendation section, one was to form a Snail Kite Coordinating Committee to promote kite recovery. Formed in 2015, this committee continues to meet 1-2 times a year and is attended by dozens of agencies, consulting firms, and academicians.

Expansion of my research program to include studies of regional wildlife was a highlight of the last approximately 8 years. Over 40 UWF graduate and undergraduate students (as well as some recent graduates) collected all the data for these projects.

For teaching, the development of Avian Science stood out for me. I acquired a competitive slot at a Smithsonian course on migratory birds in 2015, with the goal of updating my skills in avian ecology and sampling protocols and analyses. I developed the course in 2016, and it has been a draw for graduate and undergraduate students since then.

2. Mentorship and Teaching

What have you enjoyed most about working with students and colleagues?

Watching students and staff enjoy the research (most especially they like the field work) is very gratifying. Having some of these students take the lead on data collection and management is even more gratifying. I've worked with newer UWF faculty on publications (especially for statistical analyses) which has greatly helped us get out impactful publications. I was privileged to have a post doc (Dr. Gutierre) for 3 years, and that was a wonderful experience. Most of my colleagues are from outside UWF, and some have come to give seminars, which is great for our students.

Are there any memorable student success stories or teaching moments you'd like to share?

Bethany Wight earned a UWF Best Master's Thesis Award. Her thesis was not far off from a Ph.D. She started as an undergraduate and stayed for her thesis. She is on several publications, and will be on 2-3 more (posthumously). Phil Copolla took a rough-draft idea for snail research and came back with a great proposal and collected publishable data (manuscripts pending). I have many examples of outstanding UWF graduate students (NHG, LBK, NMC) and undergraduates (SEK, TRS) that led projects and published (or soon will).

Most of my favorite teaching moments involved humor. Some of my jokes fell flat (often due to referencing decades-old trivia), but on occasion they went over well. My favorites were when we shared a laugh that was sometimes at my expense (but, fortunately, done tactfully). Students loved it as much as I did.

3. Research Impact

What are some of the more important ways in which your research has had an impact on management and conservation?

Our data defined habitat, hydrology, and snail population thresholds critical to support Snail Kites and other predators that had not been described before. These thresholds serve as conditions for managers and restoration ecologists to target. By studying all aspects of apple snail life history and basic ecology, we can predict the impacts of management activities on snail availability to kites. The population model we created allows for 'what-if' scenarios to look at alternative water management strategies that may benefit snails and kites. We also developed protocols specific to snails and kites so that wetlands conditions over the kites' range (from Orlando down to the Everglades) can be effectively monitored to inform managers at a large scale. [Kites occupy wetlands with a total acreage approximately the size of Delaware.] I happen to study the nearly exclusive prey of an endangered bird, so hundreds of biologists and natural resource managers pay attention to the deliverables produced by me and my team. I do enjoy the applied aspects of my work, and a reward is seeing our data help steer management and restoration activities.

For the more regional research I mentioned, our field teams have worked on shorebird predators, waterfowl surveys, quail population and habitat assessment, breeding bird surveys, and gopher tortoise ecology in FL, AL and MS. The impacts are a win-win, as the agencies and NGOs get data to inform their conservation efforts, and the students get the experiences. These agencies and NGOs relish the fact that students get trained up to do the job and that students are so heavily involved.

How do you hope your work will continue to influence the field or inspire future scientists?

My major goal is to continue publishing in peer-reviewed journals. I also provide technical guidance for an NGO that conducts apple snail and kite studies. If all goes well, I'll be able to support students and staff who aspire to a career in ecology on future grant funded projects.

4. Reflections and Gratitude

What has UWF meant to you personally and professionally?

UWF was where I established a fully operational research program with a stretch of 15 years of funding to support full-time and seasonal staff biologists, and students. Patty (spouse and colleague) worked with me on UWF funded projects and also was the director of our non-profit. We have several publications together. Our son Ben was born here (he was instrumental in helping expand our social life, via his friends' parents!). I have a dozen or so former staff and students that I remain friends with after 5-25 years of knowing them. I learned much from being mentored by former Department chair George Stewart, and I was able to thoroughly enjoy my role as chair a few years after he retired from that position; that was one of my biggest advancements in professional development in an academic position. I appreciate the long-term support of so many UWF administrators and staff in Biology and across the University, and I hope that I have adequately expressed that to those individuals involved over the years.

Are there individuals or groups you'd like to acknowledge?

I owe much to Dr. Robert E. Bennetts. Rob was my first supervisor in Florida (1993-1995), and we forged a collaboration that initiated my Ph.D. program. Rob and I co-authored manuscripts from 1995 through 2008. Rob also hired Patty in 1994, which resulted in Patty and I collaborating on snails and kites for 17 years. Rob was on the board of directors of the Pomacea Project. Rob (who passed away in 2020) was foundational to my UWF career. Between Rob, myself, Patty, and the three field supervisors working in the Everglades for ~17 years (Miranda Watford, Dave Mellow, and Michel Therrien), we were responsible for producing the largest data sets and publishing more reports and manuscripts on Florida apple snails than from any other source. It was a privilege and joy to work with all of these fine folks.

5. What's Next?

Do you have any plans or projects for retirement—travel, continued research, hobbies, or family time?

I have funds to continue work on local projects, and will involve UWF students if I can. I have five manuscripts in various stages of development, with several more beyond those that I want to start on. I will have more time with my family, including being able to travel to see my son (Patty and I are now empty nesters!). A dozen or more house projects await me. For the first time in about 40 years, I can go fishing when conditions are at their best, not when my appointment book tells me I can go.