Ecological Society of America

Last updated
Ecological Society of America
AbbreviationESA
FormationDecember 28, 1915;108 years ago (1915-12-28)
Founded at Columbus, Ohio
Type 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership corporation
Legal statusnon profit
Headquarters Washington, DC
Location
  • US
Region
North America
Productspeer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources
ServicesMembership, Meetings, Networking, Professional Career Training, Educational Support, and Financial Awards
Membership
9,000
Official language
English
Executive Director
Catherine O’Riordan
Chief Financial Officer
Elizabeth Biggs
Director of Public Affairs
Alison Mize
Director of Science Programs
Adrienne Sponberg
Key people
Elizabeth Biggs, Katherine S. McCarter
Main organ
Governing Board, Various Standing Committees
Subsidiaries Agroecology

Applied Ecology Aquatic Ecology Asian Ecology Biogeosciences Black Ecologists Communication and Engagement Disease Ecology Early Career Ecologists Ecological Restoration Education Environmental Justice Human Ecology Inclusive Ecology Invasion Ecology Long-term Studies Microbial Ecology Natural History Open Science Paleoecology Physiological Ecology Plant Population Ecology Policy Rangeland Ecology Researchers at Undergraduate Institutions Soil Ecology Statistical Ecology Student Section Theoretical Ecology Traditional Ecological Knowledge Urban Ecosystem Ecology

Vegetation

Contents

Staff (2020)
32
Volunteers (2020)
Hundreds
Website www.esa.org

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. It holds an annual meeting at different locations in the USA and Canada. In addition to its publications and annual meeting, ESA is engaged in public policy, science, education, and diversity issues. [1]

ESA's 9,000 members are researchers, educators, natural resource managers, and students in over 90 countries. Members work on a wide range of topics, from agroecology to marine diversity, and explore the relationships between organisms and their past, present, and future environments.[ citation needed ]As of June 2023 the society has 32 topical sections, six regional chapters, and ten committees. [2]

Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America Exhibit Hall2 (2).jpg
Welcome 2019.jpg
Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America

History

The first discussions on the formation of the society took place in 1914 in the lobby of the Hotel Walton in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at a meeting of animal and plant ecologists organized by Henry Chandler Cowles. On December 28, 1915, in Columbus, Ohio, at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a group of about 50 people voted to form the Ecological Society of America, adopted a constitution, and set the next meeting. Dr. Victor E. Shelford of the University of Illinois served as the first president.[ citation needed ]

The society was founded to unify the science of ecology, stimulate research in all aspects of the discipline, encourage communication among ecologists, and promote the responsible application of ecological data and principles to the solution of environmental problems. The society has grown to 10,000 members worldwide. [3]

In the 1940s, the society decided that it should focus on research and not pursue an activist or political focus on ecological preservation, leading Shelford to found what became The Nature Conservancy. [4]

Divisions

The Public Affairs Office works to engage in environmental and science policy, share ecological science with the media and the public, and inform the ecological community about opportunities to participate in public policy or media interactions. ESA's Rapid Response Team experts play a key role in these activities, serving as a resource for ESA, policymakers, and the media. [5]

The Science Programs Office promotes the continued development of ecological science and its integration into decision-making and education, linking the ecological research and management communities. [6]

The Education and Diversity Programs Office works to increase diversity within ecology-related professions, to engage the public in a dialogue on ecological research and issues, and to improve the quality of ecology education at all levels. [7]

ESA Journals – The society publishes the scientific, peer-reviewed journals Ecology , Ecological Monographs, Ecological Applications, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment , and most recently added, Ecosphere. Madhusudan Katti is the Executive Editor of the quarterly Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. [8] [9] Among others, research featured in ESA's journals has included articles on white-nose syndrome in bats, marine protected areas, migration systems of New World birds, the indirect ecological effects between parasitoid wasps and rhizobacteria, and the range expansion of cougars. [10]

Online communications

Blog

EcoTone is a blog produced by the Ecological Society of America. The blog showcases ecology and ecologists, focusing on ecological science in the news and its use in policy and education. EcoTone welcomes guest submissions and suggestions of timely, relevant news of importance to the broad ecological community.

Podcasts

Beyond the Frontier – features interviews with the authors of selected articles appearing in recent print issues of the ESA journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Beyond the Frontier also aspires to make the subject matter accessible and interesting to listeners from a variety of scientific disciplines and to non-specialists as well. Listeners are encouraged to continue the discussion online, using the “add comment” functionality underneath each podcast to post their thoughts and ideas.

The Ecologist Goes to Washington – features the stories and reflections of scientists who have engaged their local, state, or federal governments in addressing the broader implications of their research.

Field Talk – features the field experiences of ecologists including interviews exploring the work of those who have published in the society's journals. [11]

Membership

Membership of this society consists of persons and institutions interested in ecology and in the promotion of ecological research. The following classes of members are recognized: Regular members, Student members, Life members, Emeritus members, and Institutional members.

Officers and elections

The officers are the president, the vice president for science, the vice president for public affairs, the vice president for finance, the vice president for education and human resources, and the secretary. The president serves consecutive one-year terms as president-elect, president, and past president. A member may hold the office of president for only one term, in addition to such time as may be served to fill the office following the death or resignation of a president.

The vice presidents and the secretary serve three-year terms and are eligible for reelection for up to one additional term. The terms of the vice presidents and the secretary shall be overlapping so that no more than two of these officers shall normally be elected in any given year.

The officers and other positions filled by society elections are selected by electronic ballot. The official terms of the officers commence with the close of the annual meeting and continue until their successors assume office. Only Regular, Student, and Life members are eligible to hold office in the society. No employee or member of the immediate family of an employee of the society may be nominated for or hold elected office within the society.

Governing board

The governing board consists of the president, the president-elect, the past president, the four vice presidents, the secretary, and three members-at-large. The three members-at-large are elected by the voting membership for two-year terms, with generally no more than two being elected in any one year.

The president chairs the governing board and the council and presides at their meetings. In the president's absence, the president-elect presides; if the president-elect is also not present, the past president presides, and if the past president is also not present, the governing board shall elect a chair from among those members of the governing board who are present. [12]

ESA Awards

ESA presents several awards as recognition of the efforts and achievements of the community.

Additional awards are presented by the chapters and sections. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Chandler Cowles</span> American botanist and ecological pioneer (1869–1939)

Henry Chandler Cowles was an American botanist and ecological pioneer. A professor at the University of Chicago, he studied ecological succession in the Indiana Dunes of Northwest Indiana. This led to efforts to preserve the Indiana Dunes. One of Cowles' students, O. D. Frank continued his research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Sutherland Elton</span> English zoologist and ecologist, 1900–1991

Charles Sutherland Elton was an English zoologist and animal ecologist. He is associated with the development of population and community ecology, including studies of invasive organisms.

Ecology is a new science and considered as an important branch of biological science, having only become prominent during the second half of the 20th century. Ecological thought is derivative of established currents in philosophy, particularly from ethics and politics.

William Dwight Billings was an American ecologist. He was one of the foundational figures in the field of plant physiological ecology and made major contributions to desert and arctic/alpine ecology.

Simon Asher Levin is an American ecologist and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the director of the Center for BioComplexity at Princeton University. He specializes in using mathematical modeling and empirical studies in the understanding of macroscopic patterns of ecosystems and biological diversities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Ernest Shelford</span> American zoologist and animal ecologist (1877–1968)

Victor Ernest Shelford was an American zoologist and animal ecologist who helped to establish ecology as a distinct field of study. He was the first president of the Ecological Society of America in 1915, and helped found the Nature Conservancy in the 1940s. Shelford's early visits and study of Volo Bog in Northern Illinois helped establish its ecological significance. Volo Bog became the first purchase of the Illinois Nature Conservancy.

F. Stuart Chapin III is a professor of Ecology at the Department of Biology and Wildlife of the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska. He was President of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) from August 2010 until 2011.

The Eminent Ecologist Award is prize awarded annually to a senior ecologist in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the science of ecology. The prize is awarded by the Ecological Society of America. According to the statutes, the recipient may be from any country in the world. However, in practice very few non-U.S. citizens have received the award. The awardee receives lifetime membership in the society.

Joseph Hurd Connell FAA was an American ecologist. He earned his MA degree in zoology at the University of California, Berkeley and his PhD at Glasgow University. Connell's first research paper examined the effects of interspecific competition and predation on populations of a barnacle species on the rocky shores of Scotland. According to Connell, this classic paper is often cited because it addressed ecological topics that previously had been given minor roles. Together, with a subsequent barnacle study on the influence of competition and desiccation, these two influential papers have laid the foundation for future research and the findings continue to have relevance to current ecology. His early work earned him a Guggenheim fellowship in 1962 and the George Mercer Award in 1963.

<i>Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</i> Academic journal

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment is a peer-reviewed scientific journal issued ten times per year, and consists of peer-reviewed, synthetic review articles on all aspects of ecology, the environment, and related disciplines, as well as short, high-impact research communications of broad interdisciplinary appeal. Additional features include editorials, commentaries, a letters section, Life Lines, job ads, and special columns. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2021 impact factor of 13.780, ranking it eleventh out of 279 journals in the category "Environmental Sciences" and fourth out of 174 journals in the category "Ecology".

Aaron M. Ellison is an American ecologist, photographer, sculptor, and writer. He retired in July 2021 after 20 years as the senior research fellow in ecology at Harvard University and as a Senior Ecologist at the Harvard Forest. He also served as deputy director of the Harvard Forest from 2018 to 2021. Until 2018, he also was an adjunct research professor at the University of Massachusetts in the Departments of Biology and Environmental Conservation. Ellison has both authored and co-authored numerous scientific papers, books, book reviews and software reviews. For more than 30 years, Ellison has studied food-web dynamics and community ecology of wetlands and forests; the evolutionary ecology of carnivorous plants; the responses of plants and ants to global climate change; application of Bayesian statistical inference to ecological research and environmental decision-making; and the critical reaction of Ecology to Modernism. In 2012 he was elected a fellow of the Ecological Society of America. He was the editor-in-chief of Ecological Monographs from 2008 to 2015, was a senior editor of Methods in Ecology and Evolution from 2018-2021, and since 2021 has been the executive editor of Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Brian Joseph Enquist is an American biologist and academic. Enquist is a Professor of Biology at the University of Arizona. He is also external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He is a biologist, plant biologist and an ecologist. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2012 and the Ecological Society of America (ESA) in 2018.

Nancy B. Grimm is an American ecosystem ecologist and professor at Arizona State University. Grimm's substantial contributions to the understanding of urban and arid ecosystem biogeochemistry are recognized in her numerous awards. Grimm is an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Ecological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) is an international scientific society whose members study freshwater ecosystems and ecosystems at the interface between aquatic and terrestrial habitats.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Langenheim</span> American plant ecologist and ethnobotanist

Jean H. Langenheim was an American plant ecologist and ethnobotanist, highly respected as an eminent scholar and a pioneer for women in the field. She has done field research in arctic, tropical, and alpine environments across five continents, with interdisciplinary research that spans across the fields of chemistry, geology, and botany. Her early research helped determine the plant origins of amber and led to her career-long work investigating the chemical ecology of resin-producing trees, including the role of plant resins for plant defense and the evolution of several resin-producing trees in the tropics. She wrote what is regarded as the authoritative reference on the topic: Plant Resins: Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, and Ethnobotany, published in 2003.

Priyanga Amarasekare is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and distinguished Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). Her research is in the fields of mathematical biology and trophic ecology, with a focus on understanding patterns of biodiversity, species dispersal and the impacts of climate change. She received a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship and received ESA's Robert H. MacArthur Award in 2022.

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References

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  2. "Membership Structure – The Ecological Society of America" . Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  3. "ESA History". Ecological Society of America. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  4. American National Biography: Victor E. Shelford. Oxford University Press. 2004.
  5. "Public Affairs Office". Ecological Society of America. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  6. "Science Programs". Ecological Society of America. Archived from the original on 2011-02-05. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  7. "Education and Diversity Programs". Ecological Society of America. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  8. "ESA welcomes Madhusudan Katti as new executive editor of the Bulletin – The Ecological Society of America". esa.org. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  9. "The Bulletin" . Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  10. "ESA Journals". Ecological Society of America. Archived from the original on 2011-01-13. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  11. "Public Policy and Media". Ecological Society of America. Archived from the original on 2011-02-19. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  12. "Governance". Ecological Society of America. Archived from the original on 2010-12-15. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Awards – The Ecological Society of America" . Retrieved 2023-06-10.