Mary Eleanor Power is an ecology professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Power is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the California Academy of Sciences. She holds an honorary doctorate from

Umeå University Umeå University ( sv, Umeå universitet; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within ...

, Sweden, and is a recipient of the

G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award The G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award is an award granted annually by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography to a mid-career scientist for work accomplished during the preceding 5–10 years for excellence in any aspect of limnology ...

of the

Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), formerly known as the Limnological Society of America and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, is a scientific society established in 1936 with the goal of advan ...

(formerly known as the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (2005)), and the Kempe Award for Distinguished Ecologists (2004). Power is a past president 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 ...

(2009–10) and the

American Society of Naturalists The American Society of Naturalists was founded in 1883 and is one of the oldest professional societies dedicated to the biological sciences in North America. The purpose of the Society is "to advance and diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and o ...

(2005-2006). Power and her work are featured prominently in the documentary film, ''

The Serengeti Rules ''The Serengeti Rules'' is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Nicolas Brown, and based on the book by Sean B. Carroll. The film explores the discoveries of five pioneering scientists— Tony Sinclair, Mary E. Power, Bob Paine, John Terb ...

'', which was released in 2018.

Biography

Power earned her Ph.D in Zoology from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

in 1981 and has been professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California Berkeley since 1987. She has also been a faculty manager of the Angelo Coast Range Reserve in Mendocino County since 1989.

Professional work

Power's research on river

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one ...

ecology, community and

landscape ecology Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizati ...

has influenced theory on the importance of food webs in ecosystem functioning. Her long-term research has examined how species influence changes in food webs, how energy flows across ecosystems, and how species interactions vary in different environmental regimes, with relevance to

Biogeomorphology upright=1.35, Slope stabilization by Chacao_Channel.html" ;"title="Chilean rhubarb on the coasts of Chacao Channel">Chilean rhubarb on the coasts of Chacao Channel. Vegetation have mostly a protective effect on slopes. Biogeomorphology and ecogeo ...

and food web alterations. Power's study of armored catfish was part of the early research on ideal free distribution in the wild. Power has worked primarily on food web, landscape and community ecology in the Eel River of California.

Major publications

*Power, M.E., D. Tilman, J. A. Estes, B.A. Menge, W.J. Bond, L.S. Mills, G. Daily, J.C. Castilla, J. Lubchenco, and R.T. Paine. 1996. ''Challenges in the quest for keystones''. ''BioScience ''46: 609-620. *Power, M. E. 1992. ''Top-down and bottom-up forces in food webs: do plants have primacy?'' ''Ecology'' 73: 733-746. *Power, M. E. 1990. ''Effects of fish in river food webs''. ''Science'' 250: 811-814.

References

External links

*
Berkeley.edu: Mary Eleanor Power
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Mary Eleanor American ecologists 1949 births Living people American women biologists Women ecologists People associated with the California Academy of Sciences University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni Scientists from California 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists Fellows of the Ecological Society of America Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences