The Ecology Book

336

making hours of television. The

Calypso was badly damaged in 1996,

but Cousteau died suddenly in 1997

before he could afford to replace it.

See also: A plastic wasteland 284–285

PIERRE DANSEREAU

1911–2011

Dansereau was a French Canadian

plant ecologist who pioneered the study

of forest dynamics and is considered

one of the “fathers of ecology.” Born in

Montreal, he gained his Ph.D. in plant

taxonomy at the University of Geneva

in 1939. He later helped set up the

Montreal Botanical Garden and

wrote numerous papers on botany,

biogeography, and the interaction of

humans and the environment. In 1988

he was appointed Professor Emeritus

at the University of Montreal, a post he

held until he retired, aged 93, in 2004.

See also: Biogeography 200–201

MARY LEAKEY

1913–1996

London-born Mary Leakey, one of the

world’s foremost paleoanthropologists,

experienced her first archeological

excavation at the age of 17, when she was

hired as an illustrator at a “dig” in Devon.

In 1937 she married paleoanthropologist

Louis Leakey, and the couple moved to

Africa to work in the Olduvai Gorge—

a site rich in fossils—in what is now

Tanzania. In 1948, Mary found the fossil

skull of an 18-million-year-old ancestor of

apes and humans, Proconsul africanus.

More breakthroughs in understanding

human ancestry followed, including the

discovery in 1960 of Homo habilis, a

1.4–2.3-million-year-old hominid who

used stone tools.

See also: Evolution by natural selection

24–31

MAX DAY

1915–2017

An ecologist and entomologist, Day

developed an interest in wildlife,

particularly insects, as a boy in

Australia. He graduated from the

University of Sydney with a degree

in botany and zoology in 1937, and then

studied at Harvard University, earning

a Ph.D. for his work on termites. After

World War II, he returned to Australia,

where he became the first head of

the Commonwealth Scientific and

Industrial Research Organization’s

Division of Forest Research in 1976.

Particularly known for his work on

myxomatosis and its use in controlling

rabbit populations, Day published his

first paper in 1938, and his last—on

moths—74 years later.

See also: Thermoregulation in insects

126–127 ■ Invasive species 270–273

JUDITH WRIGHT

1915–2000

Principally a poet, Wright was also

renowned in her native Australia for

campaigning on Aboriginal land rights

and environmental issues. She was

born in Armidale, New South Wales,

and studied at the University of Sydney,

before publishing her first book of

poetry in 1946. Between 1967 and 1971,

along with artist John Busst and

environmentalist Len Webb, she built

an alliance of conservation groups,

trade unions, and concerned citizens to

fight Queensland state government’s

plans to open up the Great Barrier Reef

to mining. The campaign, detailed in

her book The Coral Battleground (1977),

eventually succeeded.

See also: The Green Movement 308–309

EILEEN WANI WINGFIELD

1920–2014

As a young Aboriginal woman in

Australia, Wingfield herded cattle and

sheep with her father and sister. In the

early 1980s she lay down in front of

bulldozers at Canegrass Swamp in

opposition to construction of the

Olympic Dam uranium mine. Later,

Wingfield teamed up with Eileen

Kampakuta Brown and other Aboriginal

elders to campaign against the

government’s proposals to dump

nuclear waste in South Australia. The

DIRECTORY

women toured the country, speaking

at meetings to highlight the dangers

of the dump, which they feared could

grow as foreign governments and

corporations saw an opportunity to

dispose of their radioactive waste.

See also: Pollution 230–235

EUGENIE CLARK

1922–2015

Known as the “Shark Lady” for her

research on shark behavior, Clark was a

Japanese-American marine ecologist

and a pioneer in the use of scuba diving

for scientific research—she undertook

many dives around Florida’s Cape Haze

Marine Laboratory, where she worked

alongside other female ecologists such

as Sylvia Earle. Clark made several

key discoveries about sharks and fish,

and was a major advocate of marine

conservation. In 1955, she founded the

Mote Marine Laboratory, which works

to protect shark species, preserve coral

reefs, and found sustainable fisheries.

See also: Animal behavior 116–117

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

1926–

British naturalist and television

producer Attenborough served as a

controller for the BBC before stepping

down to dedicate more time to writing

and producing documentaries. He

wrote and narrated a series of nature

programs, notably the Life series,

beginning with Life on Earth (1979).

Attenborough’s work has been credited

with renewing public interest in nature

and conservation in Great Britain.

See also: A plastic wasteland 284–285

PETER H. KLOPFER

1930–

Berlin-born Klopfer is an ecologist

whose main area of interest is ethology,

studying animal behavior in a natural

environment. His influential 1967 book

An Introduction to Animal Behavior:

Ethology’s First Century acted as a

survey and synthesis of past and

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