Marston Bates (July 23, 1906 – April 3, 1974) was an American

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and environmental author. Bates' studies on

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

es contributed to the understanding of the

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

of yellow fever in northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Biography

Born in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, Bates received a BS in biology from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in 1927. From 1928 to 1931, he worked as an entomologist for the United Fruit Company in Central America. He received a PhD in zoology in 1934 from

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 ...

. He worked for the Rockefeller Foundation from 1935 to 1952, studying mosquito ecology, malaria, yellow fever, and human population. He lived for many years in

Villavicencio Villavicencio () is a city and municipality in Colombia. The capital of Meta Department, it was founded on April 6, 1840. The municipality had a population of 531,275 in 2018. The city is located at 4°08'N, 73°40'W, 75 km (about 45 ...

between the mountains and the llanos in central Colombia. He served as special assistant to the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, 1950–1952. From 1952 until 1971 he was a professor at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. During that time, he also served as member of the National Research Council's expedition to the Ifalik Atoll in the South Pacific (1953), director of research at the University of Puerto Rico (1956-1957), and member of the Committee on Biological and Medical Sciences of the National Science Foundation (1952-1958). He was a Fellow of the

Entomological Society of America The Entomological Society of America (ESA) was founded in 1889 and today has more than 7,000 members, including educators, extension personnel, consultants, students, researchers, and scientists from agricultural departments, health agencies, ...

in 1940 and an elected fellow of 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 ...

in 1958. He was the author of many popular science books. He was married to Nancy Bell Fairchild, daughter of the botanist

David Fairchild David Grandison Fairchild (April 7, 1869 – August 6, 1954) was an American botanist and plant explorer. Fairchild was responsible for the introduction of more than 200,000 exotic plants and varieties of established crops into the United Stat ...

and granddaughter of

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

. In 1960, he published the ecological science book ''The Forest and the Sea'', an introduction to how ecosystems work. He compares a rain forest and a tropical sea, their similarities and differences, and through it demonstrates how to understand biological systems.

Books

*''Insectos Nocivos: Estudio de Las Principales Plagas Guatemaltecas'' (1932) Ciudad de Guatemala: Anuario del Servicio técnico de cooperación agrícola. *“The Butterflies of Cuba.” (1935) ''Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology'' 78 (2): 65–258. *''The Natural History of Mosquitoes'' (1949) MacMillan; New York *''The Nature of Natural History'' (1950) Charles Scribner's Sons; New York; 309 pp. *''Where Winter Never Comes: A Study of Man and Nature in the Tropics'' (1952) Charles Scribner's Sons; New York *''The Prevalence of People'' (1955) Charles Scribner's Sons; New York. *Thomas Jr., William L., Carl O. Sauer, Marston Bates, and Lewis Mumford, eds. ''Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth'' (1956) University of Chicago Press. *Bates, Marston, and Philip S. Humphrey. ''Darwin Reader'' (1956) Scribner. *Bates, Marston, and Donald Putnam Abbott. ''Coral Island: Portrait of an Atoll'' (1958) Scribner. *Bates, Marston, and Donald Putnam Abbott. ''Ifaluk: Portrait of a Coral Island'' (1959) Museum Press. *''The Forest and the Sea: A Look at the Economy of Nature and the Ecology of Man.'' (1960) Random House (1988) Lyons *''Man in Nature'' (1961) Prentice-Hall. *Bates, Marston, C. Haven Kolb, and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, American Institute of Biological Sciences. ''High School Biology: BSCS Green Version'' (1963) Rand McNally & Company. *''Animal Worlds'' (1963) Random House. *''The Land and Wildlife of South America'' (1964) part of the Life Nature Library series *''Gluttons and Libertines: Human Problems of Being Natural'' (1968) Random House *''A Jungle in the House: Essays in Natural and Unnatural History'' (1970) Walker and CompanyReviewed at:

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Bates, Nancy Bell. ''East of the Andes and West of Nowhere''. (1947). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. *Harmond, Richard. "Bates, Marston". (February 2000). American National Biography Online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Marston 1906 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American zoologists American entomologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Scientists from Michigan University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni University of Michigan faculty Fellows of the Entomological Society of America Presidents of the American Society of Naturalists