Pamela Hallock

Last updated
Pamela Hallock
Pamela Hallock.jpg
Pamela Hallock (2018)
Born
Pamela Mary Hallock

(1948-06-02) June 2, 1948 (age 75)
Nationality American
Alma mater
Scientific career
Fields Oceanography
Institutions University of South Florida

Pamela Hallock Muller is a scientist, oceanographer and professor at the University of South Florida in the College of Marine Science. [1]

Contents

Overview

Hallock Muller's research has focused on reef-associated Foraminifera and algal symbiosis, extending into coral-reef ecology, paleobiology and carbonate sedimentology.

She has worked as a diversity and inclusion advocate who has promoted gender equality within academia and marine science. [2] [3] [4]

Early years and education

Hallock Muller was born in 1948 on a small ranch on the Rosebud Reservation in south-central South Dakota, Pamela Hallock attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse and started high school in Mission before her family moved to Missoula, Montana in 1963, where she completed high school.

She received her Bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Montana, Missoula in 1969, [5] and married a fellow zoology major, Robert Muller, in summer 1969. She received her Master's and Ph.D. degrees in oceanography from the University of Hawaii in 1972 and 1977. [6]

She has spoken on the discrimination that she faced as a young woman in academia. [7]

Early career

Pamela Hallock Muller started as an assistant professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, TX, in 1978. [8] She then moved to the University of South Florida as an associate professor in 1983 where she became a full professor in 1988. [9]

Research

Hallock Muller uses field studies to understand the role of nutrients, light and ocean chemistry in coral reefs, carbonate sedimentology and paleoceanography. She has studied algal symbiosis in the context of carbonate production, community structure and evolution of coral reefs.

A key aspect of her research is the study of reef-associated Foraminifera, including distributions, population dynamics and functional morphologies, with applications in studies of environmental quality, paleoenvironments, carbonate sedimentation, and global environmental change. [10]

Her 1986 paper in PALAIOS with colleague Wolfgang Schlager-”Nutrient excess in the demise of coral reefs and carbonate platforms”-was named one the “Landmark Papers in Carbonate Sedimentology and Stratigraphy” by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists 100th Anniversary Committee in 2017.

She participated in a 10-day saturation mission in the NOAA-National Undersea Research Center's Aquarius Habitat in 1994. [11] She also participated in the International Ocean Discovery Program's Leg 194 in 2001. [12] [13]

Awards and honors

Selected publications

Other interests

When not working, Dr Hallock Muller enjoys scuba diving, kayaking, and traveling. She also volunteers as a member of ARCS Tampa Bay since 2011, a science judge for the Spoonbill Regional National Ocean Sciences Bowl, a judge for local, regional, and state science fairs in Florida, and with the Pinellas Coastal Cleanup. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limestone</span> Sedimentary rocks made of calcium carbonate

Limestone is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of CaCO3. Limestone forms when these minerals precipitate out of water containing dissolved calcium. This can take place through both biological and nonbiological processes, though biological processes, such as the accumulation of corals and shells in the sea, have likely been more important for the last 540 million years. Limestone often contains fossils which provide scientists with information on ancient environments and on the evolution of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coral reef</span> Outcrop of rock in the sea formed by the growth and deposit of stony coral skeletons

A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foraminifera</span> Phylum of amoeboid protists

Foraminifera are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an external shell of diverse forms and materials. Tests of chitin are believed to be the most primitive type. Most foraminifera are marine, the majority of which live on or within the seafloor sediment, while a smaller number float in the water column at various depths, which belong to the suborder Globigerinina. Fewer are known from freshwater or brackish conditions, and some very few (nonaquatic) soil species have been identified through molecular analysis of small subunit ribosomal DNA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cay</span> Small island formed on the surface of a coral reef

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbonate platform</span> Sedimentary body with topographic relief composed of autochthonous calcareous deposits

A carbonate platform is a sedimentary body which possesses topographic relief, and is composed of autochthonic calcareous deposits. Platform growth is mediated by sessile organisms whose skeletons build up the reef or by organisms which induce carbonate precipitation through their metabolism. Therefore, carbonate platforms can not grow up everywhere: they are not present in places where limiting factors to the life of reef-building organisms exist. Such limiting factors are, among others: light, water temperature, transparency and pH-Value. For example, carbonate sedimentation along the Atlantic South American coasts takes place everywhere but at the mouth of the Amazon River, because of the intense turbidity of the water there. Spectacular examples of present-day carbonate platforms are the Bahama Banks under which the platform is roughly 8 km thick, the Yucatan Peninsula which is up to 2 km thick, the Florida platform, the platform on which the Great Barrier Reef is growing, and the Maldive atolls. All these carbonate platforms and their associated reefs are confined to tropical latitudes. Today's reefs are built mainly by scleractinian corals, but in the distant past other organisms, like archaeocyatha or extinct cnidaria were important reef builders.

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Ellen Thomas is a Dutch-born environmental scientist and geologist specializing in marine micropaleontology and paleoceanography. She is the emerita Harold T Stearns Professor and the Smith Curator of Paleontology of the Joe Webb Peoples Museum of Natural History at Wesleyan University, and a senior research scientist at Yale University.

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References

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  2. "Presidents letter" (PDF). sloan.org. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
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  4. "USFCMS Rising Tides, v4 - Summer 2015". Issuu.
  5. "Class reunions".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. Muller, Pamela Hallock (July 28, 1977). "Some aspects of the ecology of several large, symbiont-bearing foraminifera and their contribution to warm, shallow-water biofacies". hdl:10125/10012 via scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu.
  7. Museum of the Earth
  8. "Blooming Where Planted in West Texas". Medium. December 6, 2019.
  9. "Pamela Hallock Muller". Museum of the Earth. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  10. "Coral Reefs Being Destroyed By Global Warming, Ocean Acidification". December 18, 2007.
  11. "Inside USF : 1994 : 06 : 24 - 1994 : 07 : 21". digital.stpetersburg.usf.edu. June 24, 1994. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  12. "194 Participants". www-odp.tamu.edu.
  13. "Ocean Drilling Program: Leg 194 Weeks 5-7". www-odp.tamu.edu.
  14. "University of South Florida-College of Marine Science, Reef Indicators Lab". www.marine.usf.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  15. "2012 Annual Meeting and ARCS Light Awards Dinner | Tampa Bay". tampa-bay.arcsfoundation.org. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
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