John Vandermeer
John Harry Vandermeer (born 1940) is an American ecologist, a mathematical ecologist, tropical ecologist and agroecologist. He is the Asa Gray Distinguished University Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan, where he has taught since 1971.[1] His research focuses on the ecology of agricultural systems, and he has operated a plot of coffee plants in Mexico for his research for more than fifteen years.[2][3] In 2016, the symposium "Science with Passion and a Moral Compass" was held to honor his career as a scientist and activist. The symposium, also known as VandyFest, was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan from May 6 to May 8.[4]
John Vandermeer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1940 (age 82–83) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Illinois University of Kansas University of Michigan |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ecology |
| Institutions | University of Michigan |
| Thesis | The Structure of Communities as Determined by Competitive Interactions: A Theoretical and Experimental Approach (1968) |
Early life and education
Vandermeer was born in 1940 in Chicago, Illinois.[5] He was educated at the University of Illinois, the University of Kansas, and the University of Michigan.[6]
Vandermeer has conducted field research mainly in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua[7] and Guatemala. His research has focused on the dynamics of spatially explicit biological interactions in coffee farms in Mexico.
His long-term collaboration with a multi-national team of scientists focused on tropical rainforest dynamics after major hurricane disturbance in Nicaragua.[7][8] Their research provides strong evidence in favor of the assertion that it is the chance to reach a recruitment space into the forest canopy that governs the maintenance of hundreds of tree species and to some lesser extent the multiple tree species competition for nutrients and light.[9] This diverges from tropical tree species niche identity notion thus proposing that the tree species assemblage are to some extent the result of random dispersal and recruitment events.[10]
Vandermeer and his colleagues Dr. Ivette Perfecto, Dr. Douglas Boucher and Dr. Inigo Granzow de la Cerda contributed to the groundwork that evolved into the university system in the Autonomous Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua.[11]
References
- "John Vandermeer". U-M LSA Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB). University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
- Schramm, Michael (2015-08-13). "Getting in the know: The real danger with GMOs". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
- "Modern growing methods may be culprit of 'coffee rust' fungal outbreak". University of Michigan News. 2013-02-12. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
- "Home". Science with Passion and a Moral Compass. University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
- Vandermeer, John H. (2002-12-03). Tropical Agroecosystems. CRC Press. ISBN 9781420039887.
- Regents, University of Michigan Board of (1966). Proceedings of the Board of Regents. University of Michigan. p. 1626.
- Boucher, D (1990). "Growing back after hurricanes: Catastrophes may be critical to rain forest dynamics". BioScience. 40: 163–166. doi:10.2307/1311359. JSTOR 1311359.
- Vandermeer, J.; Granzow de la Cerda, I; Perfecto, I; Boucher, D; Ruiz, J (2004). "Multiple basins of attraction in a tropical forest: Evidence for nonequilibrium community structure". Ecology. 85 (2): 575–579. doi:10.1890/02-3140. hdl:2027.42/116998.
- Vandermeer, John H.; Boucher, D.; Granzow de la Cerda, I.; Perfecto, I.; Ruiz, J. (2000). "Hurricanes and tropical species diversity". Science. 290 (5492): 788–791. doi:10.1126/science.290.5492.788. PMID 11052939.
- Ruiz, J; Vandermeer, J; Granzow de la Cerda, I (2010). "Growth and mortality patterns in a thinning canopy of post hurricane regenerating rain forest in Eastern Nicaragua (1990 – 2005)". Revista de Biología Tropical. 58 (4): 1283–1297. PMID 21246992.
- Ruiz, J; Vandermeer, J; Granzow de la Cerda, I; Perfecto, I; Boucher, D (2013). "Regeneración de los Bosques huracanados de Nicaragua (1988-2007)". Wani. 52: 6–16.