Henry C Cowles in the Santa Catalina Mountains Arizona 1913

Henry Chandler Cowles (February 27, 1869 – September 12, 1939) was an American

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and ecological pioneer. A professor at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, he studied

ecological succession Ecological succession is the process of how species compositions change in an Community (ecology), ecological community over time. The two main categories of ecological succession are primary succession and secondary succession. Primary successi ...

in the Indiana Dunes of Northwest Indiana.Smith, S. & Mark, S. (2009)
The Historical Roots of the Nature Conservancy in the Northwest Indiana/Chicagoland Region: From Science to Preservation
. The South Shore Journal, 3. This led to efforts to preserve the Indiana Dunes. One of Cowles' students, O. D. Frank continued his research.

Life and work

Born in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, Cowles attended

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. He studied at the

with the plant taxonomist John M. Coulter and the geologist Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin as main teachers. He obtained his PhD in 1898 for his study of vegetation succession on the

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

sand dunes. The inspiration to these studies came from reading '' Plantesamfund'' by the Danish botanist and pioneer ecologist Eugen Warming. Cowles studied Danish to be able to read the original and later (1905) visited Warming in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. The translation of Warming's term into English as "Oecology" led to Cowles becoming one of the primary popularizers of the term

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

in the United States. Cowles was one of the founding members of the Ecological Society of America in 1915. Cowles married Elizabeth Waller in 1900, and their daughter Harriet was born in 1912.

Legacy

One of Cowles's field study locations is now named ''Cowles Bog'' in his honor; Cowles Bog and nearby dune locations were later preserved for the public as part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (national park as of February 2019). Cowles Bog is located west of Mineral Springs Road in the Town of Dune Acres, Indiana. Among Cowles's students who advanced American ecology were Victor E. Shelford, William Skinner Cooper, Paul B. Sears, George Damon Fuller, Walter P. Cottam, Arthur G. Vestal and May Theilgaard Watts. Cowles also served as a special field assistant of 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 ...

Works

His publications include:
''Ecological Relations of the Vegetation on the Sand Dunes of Lake Michigan''
(1899)
''Text-Book of Botany'', Volume II: Ecology
(1910) (with John Merle Coulter (Volume I, Part I: Morphology) and Charles Reid Barnes (Volume I, Part II: Physiology)
''Plant Societies of Chicago and Vicinity''
(1901)

References

External links

Henry C. Cowles, University of Chicago.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowles, Henry Chandler American botanists American ecologists Ecological succession People from Kensington, Connecticut Oberlin College alumni University of Chicago alumni 1869 births 1939 deaths Presidents of the American Association of Geographers

Life and work

Legacy

Works

See also

References

External links