Estella Bergere Leopold (January 8, 1927 – February 25, 2024) was an American paleobotanist and a conservationist. As a researcher in the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

, she aided in uncovering records of plant life from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

around the

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a legi ...

and

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , , ), known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 19th century and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. The atoll is at the no ...

s in the southern Pacific Ocean and from the

Cenozoic era The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological Era (geology), era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, Insect, insects, birds and flowering plant, angiosperms (floweri ...

in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. As a professor of botany and forest sciences at the University of Washington, she directed the Quaternary Research Center, researched the forest history of the Pacific Northwest, and collaborated with Chinese paleobotanists. Leopold's work as a conservationist included taking legal action to help save the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado, and fighting pollution. She was the daughter of

Aldo Leopold Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American writer, Philosophy, philosopher, Natural history, naturalist, scientist, Ecology, ecologist, forester, Conservation biology, conservationist, and environmentalist. He was a profes ...

Education

Leopold was born in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. She graduated with a degree in botany from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1948, attained her master's in botany from 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 ...

in 1950, and completed a Ph.D. in botany from

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 ...

in 1955, where she studied with Paul B. Sears and Edward Smith Deevey, Jr., two palynological pioneers in the United States, and also with G. Evelyn Hutchinson, an internationally known limnologist and ecologist.Flader, Susan.
Biographical Portrait: Estella Bergere Leopold, Paleoecologist and Conservationist (1927-)
. ''Forest History Today'', Spring/Fall 2010, pp. 55–57. At Yale, Leopold began to specialize in studying pollen on a dare from an adviser. Her research involved extracting pollen and spores from ancient rocks and sediments and comparing this evidence of fossil plants with those of modern specimens in order to infer what past landscapes and environments were like.Oakes, Elizabeth. ''International Encyclopedia of Women Scientists''. 2002. Facts on File.

Work with United States Geological Survey, 1955–1976

On completing her Ph.D. in 1955, Dr. Leopold took a job with the United States Geological Survey, where she worked for 21 years, from 1955 to 1976.Wayne, T. K. ''American Women of Science Since 1900: Essays A-H, Vol. 1''. ABC-CLIO, 2011, pp. 610-611. She made important findings about the effects of climate on the evolution and extinction of prehistoric plant species. In her work in the Rocky Mountains, she discovered that extinction and evolution of ancient species into newer variants was more prevalent in the middle of the continent because of the wider degree of seasonal changes; in contrast, coastal areas with more moderate climates supported older species such as the giant redwood. Her work also included studying drilled cores containing pollen from the Miocene Epoch that revealed evidence of a tropical rainforest in the

and

area of the Pacific Ocean (now the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

). By studying plant fossil records from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming, Leopold provided inferences about the

paleoenvironment Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs ...

of the

Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...

and

Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

periods. The 34-million-year-old plant fossils preserved in the Florissant Valley, southwest of Denver and now part of the

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument The Florissant Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation outcropping around Florissant, Teller County, Colorado. The formation is noted for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones an ...

, yielded some of the key evidence for her studies.

Conservation

Leopold's research in Colorado at the Florissant Fossil beds led her to become a leader in the effort to preserve the area containing this rich fossil evidence. The area was to be converted into a real estate development until she and several others filed suit. On August 20, 1969, the 6,000 acre area became the

. Other conservation actions taken by Leopold include opposing oil shale development in western Colorado, stopping dams from being built in the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

, and helping stop shipping of high-level nuclear materials through the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The Canada–United States border, international boundary between Canada and the ...

and

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

. She served on the board and has been president of the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Honoraria

In 1969, Leopold was awarded Conservationist-of-the-Year-Award by the Colorado Wildlife Federation. She was elected to the prestigious

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 1974, and two years later she was awarded the Keep Colorado Beautiful annual award. She served as president of the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995 and as president of the American Quaternary Association from 1982–1984; is a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

, the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hi ...

, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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 other ...

, and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

; was the associate editor of ''

Quaternary Research ''Quaternary Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of Quaternary science. The journal was established in 1970, is now published by Cambridge University Press, and is edited by Derek B. Booth, Nicholas Lancaster and Lewis A. Owen. ...

'' from 1976–1983 and on the journal's editorial board, as well as that of ''Quaternary International''. In 2010 she won the

International Cosmos Prize The International Cosmos Prize was established in 1993, commemorating Expo '90 in Osaka, Japan. The objective of the prize was to develop the basic concept of Expo '90, "The Harmonious Coexistence between Nature and Humankind" and is awarded by t ...

for contributions to conservation.

Death

Leopold died on February 25, 2024, at a Seattle retirement home. She was 97.

References

External links

HistoryLink.org Essay 9378 by David B. Williams, March 27, 2010

Estella Leopold page at University of Washington

Estella Leopold page at the Aldo Leopold Foundation website
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold, Estella 1927 births 2024 deaths 21st-century American botanists American conservationists American people of German descent Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Yale University alumni United States Geological Survey personnel Scientists from Madison, Wisconsin Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences