Anitra Thorhaug is an American

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...

, plant

ecophysiologist Ecophysiology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia''), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to environm ...

and chemical oceanographer whose extensive work on the rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems has had a substantial influence on national and international policies on conservation around the world. She is president of the Greater Caribbean Energy and Environment Foundation working with the State of Texas on Coastal regeneration, and president of the Institute for Seagrasses. She has had a series of professorships at universities and presently works with the Center for Natural Carbon Capture at the

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental students through four 2-year degree programs ( Master of Environmental Management, Master of Environ ...

. She is a member of the International

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing list of global issues, global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in R ...

and has four times been president of the US Association for the Club of Rome.

Education

Thorhaug studied biology at Smith College, the University of Chicago, Roosevelt University and the University of Oslo in Norway and was awarded a BSc by the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

in 1963. She received an MSc in marine biology from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami in 1965. She carried out research on artificial and living single-cell marine algae membranes at RSMAS and Hopkins Marine Station of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

for which she was awarded a PhD in 1969. Her post-doctoral work (1969–1971) on living plasma membranes using a non-equilibrium thermodynamic framework included work at the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

with Aharon Katchalsky, and at UCLA with Jack Dainty, while continuing to be advised technically by Lawrence R. Blinks of Hopkins Marine Station.

Career

Academically, Thorhaug has been associated with a number of universities and research institutions around the world, including the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, the

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

Hopkins Marine Stations, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences,

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

, the

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and is conducting research into seagrass and mangrove Blue carbon comparative studies among tropical ocean basins at Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture) (see references below), having ended a decade and a half of photosynthesis and remote sensing of marine plants at the Ecophysiological Laboratories at the

Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental students through four 2-year degree programs ( Master of Environmental Management, Master of Environ ...

. She has worked for a number of

United Nations Agencies The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal bodies (the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the United Nations Se ...

including the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

, the International Oceanographic Commission of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the UN Environment Program and the UN Development Program. In the United States, she has worked for and advised the

Department of Energy A ministry of energy or department of energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rela ...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, and Seagrant and has held offices in national scientific associations such as Chair of Physiology of the Botanical Society of America. Thorhaug has also worked with private foundations such as the Mobil Oil Foundation, Mitchell Foundation and the Rockefeller Family Foundation. She is the author of eleven books and more than four hundred scientific publications and presentations.

Honors and awards

Thorhaug received the United Nations Environmental Program Gold Medal in 1982, was included in the UNEP Global 500 list in 1987, received the Earth Trustee Award from UNCED in 1991 and was featured in UNEP's Who's Who Women in Environment in 2006. She is a member of the Club of Rome and was president of the United States Association of the Club of Rome four times. She has received a Lifetime Legacy Award from the Botanical Society of America, a Lindbergh Award and a BSA Diamond Award as well as numerous national and international awards and grans and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Philippines Women's University in 1994.

References of recent publications

Thorhaug, Poulos, Lopez-Portillo et al. 2017. Seagrass blue carbon dynamics in the Gulf of Mexico: Stocks, losses from anthropogenic disturbance, and gains through seagrass restoration. Science of the Total Environment 605, 626-636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.189. Thorhaug, AL, J Lopez-Portillo, HM Poulos, et al. 2019. Gulf of Mexico estuarine blue carbon stock, extent and flux: Mangroves, marshes, and seagrasses: A North American hotspot. Science of the Total Environment 653, 1253-1261. DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.011 A Thorhaug, JB Gallagher, W Kiswara, A Prathep, X Huang, TK Yap, et. Al.2020.Coastal and estuarine blue carbon stocks in the greater Southeast Asia region: Seagrasses and mangroves per nation and sum of total .Marine Pollution Bulletin 160, 111168. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111168 Gallagher J B, Chew S T and & Madin J, Thorhaug A. 2020. Valuing Carbon Stocks across a Tropical Lagoon (Borneo) after Accounting for Black and Inorganic Carbon: Bulk Density Proxies for monitoring. Journal of Coastal Research.36(5):1029-1039. DOI: 10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-19-00127.1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorhaug, Anitra American marine biologists American oceanographers Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science alumni Club of Rome members Smith College alumni University of Chicago alumni Ecophysiologists American plant physiologists American women physiologists American women marine biologists Biologists from Illinois