Women in Ecology

A chart showing the middle chesapeake bay from the Bay Bridge to the South River.

Grace Brush and the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem

I graduated from college with a degree in Economics, which I liked alot; but the only job I could get after graduating was as a lab technician in a Geological Survey of Canada coal research laboratory. I did minor in Geology. The lab was very small—only a half dozen people.

Past Presidents seated together for a group photo.

ESA’s Evolving Leadership

In 1982, these twelve ESA presidents and past-presidents gathered at the annual meeting for a photo. They represent 32 years of ESA history, from 1951 to 1981, but quite a few are missing. The earliest president in attendance for this photo is Samuel Charles Kendeigh, who served in 1951, immediately following ESA’s first female president, E. Lucy Braun, who was…

Jean Langenheim stands by a poster at an ESA annual meeting and discusses it with someone.

Jean Langenheim’s Interdisciplinary Explorations

Jean Harmon Langenheim September 5, 1925 – March 28, 2021We are sad to report that Dr. Langenheim passed away last Sunday at the age of 95. She will be missed by many who knew and worked with her. Obituary from University of California, Santa Cruz. Obsessed with ideas of “how it all fit together,” Dr. Jean Langenheim, in reflecting on…

A woman stands in ankle deep water with a walking stick and binoculars among evergreens.

Deep Ecology: Remembering Becky Sharitz

Deep Ecology with Becky: A remembrance of Dr. Rebecca Sharitzby Neil Pederson, who posted this tribute at his site Broadleaf Papers. He is Senior Ecologist at Harvard Forest. We think it nicely conveys a sense of being in the field with Dr. Sharitz. This essay is cross-posted here with permission.We’ve provided some dates and other information below Dr. Pederson’s post….

A group of people, presumably a teacher with her students, sit in an open field. Black and white, circa 1947.

Harriet George Barclay, Tributes to a Teacher

Harriet George Barclay, August 31, 1901- May 25, 1990“She kept saying she couldn’t die because she had too much to do,” recalls retired University of Tulsa biology professor Dr. Paul Buck, for whom Barclay was mentor and friend. … [Until a few weeks before her death] “She was at her computer, organizing data about some 15,000 plant collections—with multiple specimens…

Dr. Mary Talbot poses for a photograph. Black and White

Mary Talbot, Pioneering Entomologist

Terry McGlynn is the Editor-In-Chief of Small Pond Science, a collaborative blog. In recognition of Ada Lovelace Day 2017, he wrote this profile of entomologist Mary Talbot, cross-posted here with permission and minor edits.We’ve provided some dates and other information below Dr. McGlynn’s post. Mary Talbot, pioneering ecologist and myrmecologistby Terry McGlynn, Professor of Biology at Cal State Dominguez HillsSmall…

ESA’s 2017 Awards

ESA’s annual awards, to be presented in Portland at the August annual meeting, include high honors to four distinguished women in ecology. Awards are announced in the July issue of the ESA Bulletin.Eminent Ecologist Award: Diana Harrison WallThe Eminent Ecologist Award honors a senior ecologist for an outstanding body of ecological work or sustained ecological contributions of extraordinary merit. Soil…

Winona Hazel Welch, Moss Champion

Winona H. Welch May 5, 1896-January 18, 1990Although she was a well rounded botanist and field ecologist who taught dozens of students, Winona Welch chose to focus most of her research attention on bryophytes. She taught general botany, ecology, morphology, anatomy, mycology, plant pathology, landscaping, spring flora and methods of teaching biology in high schools. For her research she was…