[10] In his research, Pianka combined traditional field biological methods with recent technological innovations in statistical analysis, phylogenetic reconstruction, and imaging of the Earth's surface in attempts to answer major questions about evolution and ecology.
[13] Pianka's acceptance speech[14] for the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist Award from the Texas Academy of Science[15] resulted in a controversy in the popular press when Forrest Mims, vice-chair of the Academy's section on environmental science, claimed that Pianka had "enthusiastically advocated the elimination of 90 percent of Earth's population by airborne Ebola.
Mims' affiliate at the Discovery Institute, William Dembski, then informed the Department of Homeland Security that Pianka's speech may have been intended to foment bioterrorism.
"[19] However, Kenneth Summy,[20] an Academy member who observed the speech, wrote a letter[21] of support for Mims' account, saying "Dr. Pianka chose to deliver an inflammatory message in his keynote address, so he should not be surprised to be the recipient of a lot of criticism from TAS membership.
Pianka appeared on NBC-affiliate KXAN Austin[22] and on two cable talk-shows and posted a statement on his University of Texas website that said in part:[23] I have two grandchildren and I want them to inherit a stable Earth.
Humans have overpopulated the Earth and in the process have created an ideal nutritional substrate on which bacteria and viruses (microbes) will grow and prosper.
We are behaving like bacteria growing on an agar plate,[24] flourishing until natural limits are reached or until another microbe colonizes and takes over, using them as their resource.
In addition to our extremely high population density, we are social and mobile, exactly the conditions that favor growth and spread of pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes.
Simply stopping the destruction of rainforests would help mediate some current planetary ills, including the release of previously unknown pathogens.
The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists passed a resolution on the word "Piankafication" to describe Pianka's influence on evolutionary biology and ecology at their business meeting in 2004.
[30] In this resolution, they noted that he has had "vast and immeasurable influence on several fields of evolutionary ecology" and that his "years in the field have set the standard for both natural history and for ecological studies, resulting in publications that have lain the foundation for research programs..." Pianka received the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist Award from the Texas Academy of Science.