David George Campbell

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David George Campbell
Born (1949-01-28) January 28, 1949 (age 75)
Decatur, Illinois
Alma mater Kalamazoo College
University of Michigan
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Occupation(s)Ecologist, environmentalist

David George Campbell (born January 28, 1949, in Decatur, Illinois, United States) is an American educator, ecologist, environmentalist, and award-winning author of non-fiction. He is the son of George R. Campbell (1918 - 2004) and Jean Blossom Weilepp (1917 - 1998).

Contents

Campbell spent his childhood on Eleuthera Island, Bahamas, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He received a BS in biology from Kalamazoo College (1971), an MS in biology from the University of Michigan (1973), and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (1984). He is married to Karen S. Lowell, a phytochemist; they have a daughter.

Bahama Islands

From 1974-1977, Campbell was the executive Director of the Bahamas National Trust, [1] the organization responsible for parks, reserves, and setting priorities for wildlife conservation in the Bahamian Archipelago. As director he established priorities for the protection of island-endemic species including the rock iguanas ( Cyclura spp.) and hutias, [2] and started the process of the Bahamas becoming a signatory to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). His career in the Bahamas culminated in the publication of The Ephemeral Islands, the first natural history of the archipelago to be published since the 1800s.

Chincoteague Bay

From 1978-1983, Campbell elucidated the etiology of gray crab disease, an amoebic pathogen that every spring kills ca. 30% of the blue crabs ( Callinectes sapidus ) in Chincoteague Bay, VA. His research showed that the disease is spread by cannibalism, mediated by ambient temperature and salinity. [3]

Amazonia

In 1974, Campbell was a botanical explorer at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) [4] in Manaus, Brazil, from where he staged expeditions to study the ethnobotany of the Jamamaji and Paumari Native Americans. [5] Campbell joined the scientific staff of the New York Botanical Garden from 1984 to 1990, conducting floristic inventories throughout the Brazilian Amazon basin as part of the Projeto Flora Amazônica program; [6] destinations included O Deserto on the Rio Xingu (Pará), [7] the Rio Falsino (Amapá), Reserva Biológica Ilha de Maracá  [ pt ] (Roraima), the Rio Moa and Serra do Divisor National Park (Acre).

These expeditions resulted in several notable papers on allelopathy, [8] várzea floodplain forests [9] [10] and anthropogenic lianaceous forests. [11] The Acre expeditions were chronicled in A Land of Ghosts, which won the Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction.

Antarctica, Africa and Asia

In the late 1980s and 1990s, Campbell shifted his research. He examined the impacts of elephants on west African forests, [12] the diversity of subtropical forests in southern China, [13] conducted research on the pathologies of krill and marine isopods in the waters of Admiralty Bay, King George Island (one of the South Shetlands of the Antarctic Peninsula), joined the sixth Brazilian expedition to Antarctica (1988), and lived at that nation's Comandante Ferraz Base. [14] This experience was chronicled in The Crystal Desert, which won the Burroughs Medal, the PEN Martha Albrand Award and the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award.

Grinnell College

Since 1991 Campbell has been a professor of biology, chair of environmental studies and Henry R. Luce Professor [15] in Nations and the Global Environment at Grinnell College. [16] [17] From 1994 to 2007 he and his Grinnell students conducted studies on the historical ecology of the Yucatec, Mopan and Kekchi Maya of Belize, using quantitative methods to test the long-held hypothesis that the Maya Forest is anthropogenic, [18] even suggesting that its species composition was due to post-contact ranching. [19] In 2010 Campbell extrapolated this controversial hypothesis to Amazonia, presenting evidence that pre-Columbian Native Americans caused a large-scale extinction of botanical diversity before the Europeans arrived. [20]

Books

Honors and awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon rainforest</span> Large rainforest in South America

The Amazon rainforest, also called Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km2 (2,700,000 sq mi), of which 6,000,000 km2 (2,300,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations and 3,344 indigenous territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plain-brown woodcreeper</span> Species of bird

The plain-brown woodcreeper, is a sub-oscine passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in the tropical New World from Honduras through South America to central Brazil and in Trinidad and Tobago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arawakan languages</span> Language family of indigenous peoples in South America

Arawakan, also known as Maipurean, is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branches migrated to Central America and the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean and the Atlantic, including what is now the Bahamas. Almost all present-day South American countries are known to have been home to speakers of Arawakan languages, the exceptions being Ecuador, Uruguay, and Chile. Maipurean may be related to other language families in a hypothetical Macro-Arawakan stock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedge-billed woodcreeper</span> Species of bird

The wedge-billed woodcreeper is a sub-oscine passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

The Xingu Indigenous Park is an indigenous territory of Brazil, first created in 1961 as a national park in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Its official purposes are to protect the environment and the several nations of Xingu Indigenous peoples in the area.

Darrell Addison Posey was an American anthropologist and biologist who vitalized the study of traditional knowledge of indigenous and folk populations in Brazil and other countries. He called his approach ethnobiology and combined research with respect for other cultures, especially indigenous intellectual property rights.

<i>Dipteryx charapilla</i> Species of legume

Dipteryx charapilla is a little-known species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, a large to mid-sized tree growing along rivers in the rainforests of Brazil. and Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinnamon-throated woodcreeper</span> Species of bird

The cinnamon-throated woodcreeper is a sub-oscine passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varzea piculet</span> Species of woodpecker

The varzea piculet is a Near Threatened species of bird in subfamily Picumninae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Brazil's Amazon basin.

<i>Vatairea</i> Genus of legumes

Vatairea is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes eight species of tall trees native to the tropical Americas, ranging from southern Mexico to Bolivia and southern Brazil. Seven species are native to northern South America, with the center of diversity in Amazonia. Vatairea lundellii ranges from southern Mexico to Panama. Most species grow in tropical rain forest, often in the inundated forests known as igapó and varzea, where they are emergent trees, growing above the forest canopy. V. macrocarpa grows in seasonally-dry forest, cerrado, and caatinga.

<i>Igapó</i> Flooded Amazon forests in Brazil

Igapó is a word used in Brazil for blackwater-flooded forests in the Amazon biome. These forests and similar swamp forests are seasonally inundated with freshwater. They typically occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are found in a range of climate zones, from boreal through temperate and subtropical to tropical. In the Amazon Basin of Brazil, a seasonally whitewater-flooded forest is known as a várzea, which is similar to igapó in many regards; the key difference between the two habitats is in the type of water that floods the forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwest Amazon moist forests</span> Ecoregion in the Upper Amazon basin

The Southwest Amazon moist forests (NT0166) is an ecoregion located in the Upper Amazon basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xingu scale-backed antbird</span> Species of bird

The Xingu scale-backed antbird is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is endemic to Brazil.

A várzea forest is a seasonal floodplain forest inundated by whitewater rivers that occurs in the Amazon biome. Until the late 1970s, the definition was less clear and várzea was often used for all periodically flooded Amazonian forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caxiuanã National Forest</span> National forest in Pará, Brazil

Caxiuanã National Forest is a national forest located in lower Amazon region the state of Pará in the North Region of Brazil. It is located on the west banks of the Baía de Caxiuanã between the Xingu River and downstream from the Anapu River. The forest is located southeast of the Ilha do Marajó. Caxiuanã National Forest covers two municipalities in Pará, Portel and Melgaço, but the forest itself is sparsely inhabited. It is located 400 kilometres (250 mi) from the state capitol of Belém.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon biome</span> Ecological region of South America

The Amazon biome contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater and whitewater flooded forest, lowland and montane terra firma forest, bamboo and palm forest, savanna, sandy heath and alpine tundra. Some areas of the biome are threatened by deforestation for timber and to make way for pasture or soybean plantations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rio Curiaú Environmental Protection Area</span> Protected area in Amapá, Brazil

The Rio Curiaú Environmental Protection Area is an environmental protection area in the state of Amapá, Brazil. It attempts to protect the environment of a region of forest and flooded fields close to the state capital, Macapá, and also to preserve the values and culture of the traditional population, which is of African descent. It is threatened by urban expansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tapajós–Xingu moist forests</span>

The Tapajós–Xingu moist forests (NT0168) is an ecoregion in the eastern Amazon basin. It is part of the Amazon biome. The ecoregion extends southwest from the Amazon River between its large Tapajós and Xingu tributaries.

References

  1. ↑ "The Bahamas National Trust - Home". Bnt.bs. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  2. ↑ Campbell, D. G., K. S. Lowell & M. E. Lightbourn. 1991. The effect of introduced hutias (Geocapromys ingrahami) on the woody vegetation of Little Wax Cay, Bahamas.
  3. ↑ Campbell, D. G. 1984. The Abundance and Distribution of Paramoeba perniciosa. Ph.D. Dissertation. The Johns Hopkins University. 188 pages
  4. ↑ "Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia". INPA. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  5. ↑ Prance, G. T., D. G. Campbell & B. W Nelson. 1977. The ethnobotany of the Paumari Indians (Rio Purus), Economic Botany . 31. 129-139
  6. ↑ "Flora amazonica". Archived from the original on 2011-09-10. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  7. ↑ Campbell, D. G., D. C. Daly, G. T. Prance & U. N. Maciel. 1986. Quantitative ecological inventory of terra firme and várzea tropical forest on the Rio Xingu, Brazilian Amazon. Brittonia 38(4): 369-393
  8. ↑ Campbell, D. G., P. M. Richardson & A. R. Rosas. 1989. Field screening for allelopathy in tropical forest trees, particularly Duroia hirsuta, in the Brazilian Amazon. Biochemical Systematics & Ecology . 17(5): 403-407
  9. ↑ Campbell, D. G. J. L. Stone & A. Rosas, Jr. 1992. A comparison of the phytosociology of three floodplain (várzea) forests of known ages, Rio Juruá, western Brazilian Amazon. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 108: 213-237.
  10. ↑ Campbell, D. G. 1994. Scale and patterns of community structure in Amazonian forests. Pages 181-199 In: P. Edwards and R. May (eds.) Large-Scale Ecology and Conservation Biology. Blackwell. Oxford.
  11. ↑ Balée, W. & D. G. Campbell. 1990. Ecological aspects of liana forest, Xingu River, Amazonian Brazil. Biotropica . 22(1): 36-47.
  12. ↑ Campbell, D. G. 1989. Gap formation in tropical forest canopy by elephants, Oveng, Gabon, Central Africa. Biotropica. 23(2): 195-196
  13. ↑ Z Wang, S. An, D. G. Campbell, X. Yang & X. Zhu Xuelei. 1999, Biodiversity of the montane rainforest in Diaoluo Mountain, Hainan. Acta Ecologica Sinica . 19(1): 61-67.
  14. ↑ "Estação de Apoio Antártico - Sobre a Esantar". Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  15. ↑ "Henry R. Luce Professorships". Hluce.org. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  16. ↑ "David Campbell, Henry L. Professor of Nations and the Global Environment". Grinnell College.
  17. ↑ "Books by David G. Campbell - Biology | Grinnell College". Grinnell.edu. 2012-04-15. Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  18. ↑ Campbell, D. G., A. Ford, K. S. Lowell, J. Walker, J. K. Lake, C. Ocampo-Raeder, A. Townesmith & M. J. Balick. 2006. The feral forests of the eastern Petén. Pages 21-55 In: W. Balée & C. Erickson (eds.). Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology - Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands. Columbia University Press. NY. ISBN   0-231-50961-8
  19. ↑ Campbell, D. G., J. Guittar, K. S. Lowell. 2008. Are Colonial Pastures The Ancestors of The Contemporary Maya Forest? J. Ethnobiology 28(2):278–289 doi : 10.2993/0278-0771-28.2.278
  20. ↑ Campbell, D. G. Botanical extinction in Amazonia: was there a Neotropical “Langsamenkrieg”? Pages 173–188 In. E. Barrone-Visigalli & A. Roosevelt (eds.) Amaz'hommes, Sciences de l’Homme et Sciences de la Nature en Amazonie? IBIS Rouge Éditions  [ fr ], Matoury. ISBN   978-2-84450-372-5
  21. ↑ Davis, Elisabeth B.; Schmidt, Diane (1996). "Brief review of Floristic Inventory of Tropical Countries". Guide to Information Sources in the Botanical Sciences. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 168. ISBN   9781563080753.
  22. ↑ "Review of The Crystal Desert by David G. Campbell". Publishers Weekly. 30 November 1992.
  23. ↑ "Review of The Crystal Desert by David G. Campbell". Kirkus Reviews. 30 November 1992.
  24. ↑ Eder, Richard (29 November 1992). "Review of The Crystal Desert by David G. Campbell". Los Angeles Times.
  25. ↑ "Review of Islands in Space and Time by David G. Campbell". Publishers Weekly. 4 November 1996.
  26. ↑ "Fellows - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation". Gf.org. Archived from the original on 2013-01-14. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  27. ↑ "JBA Medal Award List". Research.amnh.org. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  28. ↑ [ dead link ]
  29. ↑ "PEN American Center - Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction Winners". Pen.org. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  30. ↑ "Lannan Foundation". Lannan.org. Archived from the original on 2009-12-28. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  31. ↑ "Alumni Relations. Kalamazoo College". Kzoo.edu. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
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