We try to describe at least some of the effects and influence Joe Connell and his research have had on ecological theory. The questions theoreticians ask and the way they ask them are affected by prevailing ideas as well as by specific papers, and we explore Joe’s influence through both pathways.

Results/Conclusions

We have found Joe’s influence has permeated ecological theory through many channels and routes. His early and beautiful experimental results and papers concurrently strengthened then-existing (relatively simple) theory, by providing its strongest illustration, and also cast doubt on what at the time was thought to be its almost-universal applicability. Much later, however, this early work also influenced age- and stage-structured theory for competitive interactions. Thereafter, he combined field experiments with long-term spatially-explicit observation; the results of and his insights from this work had more profound, and more pervasive if also more diffused, effects on theory. The most obvious influences are on the major theoretical developments in community ecology in the late 20^th century - especially on the much-developed theory for coexistence of competitors and maintenance of biodiversity, via mechanisms involving non-equilibrium dynamics, multiple spatial processes, including “open-system” dynamics, and frequency-dependent interactions. We illustrate Joe’s continuing influence with a current example.