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 Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and as a Senior Ecologist at the

Harvard Forest Harvard Forest is an ecological research area of owned and managed by Harvard University and located in Petersham, Massachusetts. The property, in operation since 1907, includes one of North America's oldest managed forests, educational and re ...

. 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 The University of Massachusetts is the Public university, public university system of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell ...

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 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. I ...

. He was the editor-in-chief of ''

Ecological Monographs 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. I ...

'' from 2008 to 2015, was a senior editor of ''

Methods in Ecology and Evolution ''Methods in Ecology and Evolution'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering methodologies in ecology and evolution. It was established in 2010 and is the 5th journal of the British Ecological Society. It is published by Wiley-Black ...

'' from 2018-2021, and since 2021 has been the executive editor of ''

''.

Career

Ellison was born in 1960 in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, United States. He attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he studied East Asian studies/Asian philosophy and obtained his B.A. in 1982. He later went on to obtain his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1986. Ellison's postdoctoral positions were with the

Organization for Tropical Studies The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS)/Organización para Estudios Tropicales (OET), founded in 1963, is a non-profit consortium of over 50 universities and research institutions based in the United States, Latin America, and South Africa. OTS ...

in Costa Rica, Department of Biology,

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

, 1988–1989, and

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, Section of Ecology and Systematics and Ecosystems Research Center, 1986–1988. He spent a year educating students at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

and in 1990 he moved to a permanent position at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

. At Mount Holyoke, he was an assistant, associate, and full professor of biology and environmental studies, educating students in biology, environmental studies and statistics until 2001. He also served as sponsored research officer and associate dean for science. After a year's sabbatical at

as a Charles Bullard Fellow, he moved to Harvard Forest as a senior ecologist in 2002. After retiring from Harvard in 2021, Aaron co-founded, with Manisha Patel, the company Sound Solutions for Sustainable Science, which develops and provides a range of consulting services, workshops, and programs.

Honours and awards

*1992 – Presidential Faculty Fellow,

U.S. National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is ...

*2004 – Eminent Ecologist, Kellogg Biological Station *2012 – Elected Fellow, Ecological Society of America *2014 – Human Diversity Award (for the Harvard Forest Summer Undergraduate Research Program),

Organization of Biological Field Stations An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution (formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a part ...

*2022 - Natural Sciences Fellow, Swedish Collegium of Advanced Studies *2022 -

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of ...

(Humbold Research Award)

Books

*''A primer of ecological statistics'' (1st and 2nd editions). 2004/2012. Gotelli, N. J. & A. M. Ellison. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA. *''A field guide to the ants of New England''. 2012. Ellison, A. M., N. J. Gotelli, G. Alpert, and E. J. Farnsworth. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. *''Stepping in the same river twice: replication in biological research''. 2017. Shavit, A. & A. M. Ellison (editors). Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. *''Vanishing point: poetry and photography from the Pacific northwest''. 2017. Ellison, A. M. BookBaby. *''Carnivorous plants: physiology, ecology, and evolution''. 2018. Ellison, A. M. & L. Adamec (editors). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. *''Causes and consequences of species diversity in forest ecosystems''. 2019. Ellison, A. M. & F. S. Gilliam (editors). MDPI Books, Basel, Switzerland. *''Scaling in ecology in a model system''. 2021. Ellison, A. M. & N. J. Gotelli. ''Monographs in Population Biology'', number 64. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellison, Aaron M. Living people American ecologists Harvard University faculty 1969 births University of Massachusetts faculty Brown University alumni Yale University alumni Mount Holyoke College faculty Swarthmore College faculty Fellows of the Ecological Society of America