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Stephen Russell Carpenter (born July 5, 1952) is an American lake ecologist who focuses on lake eutrophication which is the over-enrichment of lake ecosystems leading to toxic blooms of micro-organisms and fish kills.


Early life

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, his father, Richard, a chemist, became the Director of the National Academies’ Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, so Carpenter was immersed in science at a young age. In his youth, Carpenter spent his summers on his grandfather’s farm in Missouri. During this time he and his relatives enjoyed fishing, hunting and camping. “Hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting all come together in ecology,” he says. “I was really excited when I discovered there was a way to get paid for being a scientist outdoors.”


Education

His interest in ecology was sparked during his undergraduate program at
Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
. After his sophomore year, Carpenter worked for the summer on a survey of tree cover in Glacier National Park. Carpenter performed undergraduate research in the Fort River of Massachusetts on the primary production of
macrophytes Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that g ...
under the instruction of Stuart Fisher, an aquatic ecosystem scientist. He received a B.A. in biology in 1974 and then entered the graduate programs in
Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
and Oceanography and Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he participated in the lab of Michael Adams to examine the role played by
macrophytes Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that g ...
in the phosphorus cycle of lake ecosystems. During his graduate years he met his wife, Susan Moths, whom he married in the same year he finished his doctoral dissertation, 1979.


Career

He began a teaching career at the University of Notre Dame where he continued to work on lake research at the university’s field station near Land O’ Lakes Wisconsin. Here he created a more broadly scoped study of lake ecosystems to include plants and animals and the food web. In 1982 he and Jim Kitchell began work on the
trophic cascade Trophic cascades are powerful indirect interactions that can control entire ecosystems, occurring when a trophic level in a food web is suppressed. For example, a top-down cascade will occur if predators are effective enough in predation to reduce t ...
s Project, which involved the dynamics of the lake ecosystems. After 10 years spent at Notre Dame, he returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to a faculty position in the Center for Limnology and Department of Zoology. Madison had a strong limnology program allowing him to pursue other research including the accumulation of
polychlorinated biphenyl Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...
s in fish and invertebrates in Lake Michigan. He resumed work on the Madison lakes, including Lake Mendota, where his interest in the phosphorus cycle and eutrophication was renewed. His studies on the phosphorus cycle focused on nonpoint phosphorus pollution and how elevated phosphorus concentrations impacted the ecosystem of Lake Mendota. These investigations led Carpenter to devise strategies to manage the phosphorus cycle. By the mid-1990s he began to study the economics of eutrophication, in which he compared the benefits factories and farms receive by causing eutrophication to the benefits of keeping a lake clean and clear with the goal of maximizing the benefits on both sides. From 1999 to 2009 Carpenter led th
North Temperate Lakes Long Term Ecological Research
at UW-Madison. In 2009 he became director of the UW-Madison Center for Limnology. In 2017 he retired as director in order to pursue research interests. Carpenter was on the Science Committee for the Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society and the board for the
Stockholm Resilience Centre The Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), is a research centre on resilience and sustainability science at Stockholm University. It is a joint initiative between Stockholm University and the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swe ...
. As of 2021, he is the co-editor in chief of the journal ''Ecosystems''. In 2000-2005 he was co-chair of the Scenarios Working Group of the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a major assessment of the human impact on the environment, called for by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000, launched in 2001 and published in 2005 with more than $14 million of gr ...
. He led the North Temperate Lakes research site of the
Long Term Ecological Research Network The Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER) consists of a group of over 1800 scientists and students studying ecological processes Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living ( biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of ecosyst ...
program at the University of Wisconsin in 1999-2009. He is a former president of the Ecological Society of America. As of 2011, Carpenter has published 5 books and about 450 scientific papers, book chapters, reviewed reports and commentaries.


Awards

Carpenter is the 2011 laureate of the
Stockholm Water Prize Presented annually since 1991, the Stockholm Water Prize is an award that recognizes outstanding achievements in water related activities. Over the past three decades, Stockholm Water Prize Laureates have come from across the world and represente ...
for his research on how lake ecosystems are affected by their surrounding landscape and by human activities such as nutrient loading, fishing, and introductions of exotic species. His other awards include a Pew Fellowship in Conservation and Environment, the Naumann-Thienemann medal of the
International Society of Limnology The International Society of Limnology (SIL) is an international scientific society that disseminates information among limnologists, those who study all aspects of inland waters, including their physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and management ...
in 2007 for "research that has built bridges between ecological theory, ecosystem experiments, and management of complex limnological problems" and the work that "has elucidated the importance of the trophic cascade and regime shifts in the management of lakes", the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award in 1999 from the
Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), formerly known as the Limnological Society of America and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, is a scientific society established in 1936 with the goal of advan ...
, the Robert H. MacArthur Award in 2000 from the Ecological Society of America, the Excellence in Ecology Prize ( ECI Prize) in 2000 from the Ecology Institute for limnetic ecology, and the
Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology The Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology ( ca, Premi Ramon Margalef d'Ecologia) is a prize awarded annually by the Generalitat de Catalunya to recognize an exceptional scientific career or discovery in the field of ecology or other environmental scienc ...
in 2018 from the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2001, Carpenter was also been awarded membership in the US National Academy of Sciences and Foreign Membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and 2006 he was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
. In 2022 he was also awarded the
Blue Planet Prize The recognises outstanding efforts in scientific research or applications of science that contribute to solving global environmental problems. The prize was created by the Asahi Glass Foundation in 1992, the year of the Rio Earth Summit, and ...
.


Research

Carpenter's research interest is in whole-ecosystem experiments and adaptive ecosystem management in freshwaters. Specific topics include: trophic cascades and their effects on production and nutrient cycling; contaminant cycles; freshwater fisheries; eutrophication; nonpoint pollution; ecological economics of freshwater; resilience of social-ecological systems; and early warnings of collapse in complex systems. "Eutrophication is a significant environmental problem that can impact humans on a recreational, economic, and even public health level,” says Carpenter, “and it's likely to intensify in the coming decades due to increases in human population, demand for more food, land conversion, and fertilizer use."


Select publications

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References


External links


official Web page at Wisconsin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Stephen R. American ecologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty People from Kansas City, Missouri 1952 births Living people Fellows of the Ecological Society of America American limnologists Winners of the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology Scientists at University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center Ecology journal editors