David Gibson, PhD was born and raised in Cuckfield, England. He obtained his BSc in botany from the University of Reading and went on to take a MS in botany from the University of Oklahoma, USA and PhD from the University of Wales. Gibson has published over 90 papers in scientific journals,most dealing with grasses or grasslands. His previous book 'Methods in Comparative Plant Population Ecology' was published by Oxford University Press in 2002. He is an Editor for the Journal of Ecology, and Associate Editor for the Journal of Vegetation Science, and a Professor of Plant Biology inthe Department of Plant Biology and the Center for Ecology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA.