Robin B. Foster is a botanist studying tropical forests. He co-originated the "tropical

forest dynamics Forest dynamics are the underlying physical and biological forces that shape and change a forest ecosystem. The continuous state of change in forests can be summarized with two basic elements: disturbance (ecology), disturbance and ecological suc ...

plot".

Biography

Foster graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science in biology, and attained his Botany / Plant Ecology PhD in 1974 at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

under ecologist Dwight Billings. In 1979, while 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 ...

, work on

Barro Colorado Island Barro Colorado Island is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake in 1913. When the waters rose, they covered a significant part ...

with frequent coauthor Stephen P. Hubbell contributed to the development of the first tropical forest dynamics plot, leading to a global network of 18 such parcels. The "audacious" plan was to periodically map and measure every tree within . As a plant ecologist with

Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Virginia, in Arlington County, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and co ...

he participated in studies to inform urgent conservation decisions as part of the first "Rapid Assessment Program". During his extensive fieldwork in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, he contracted both

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

and

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

. He has taught biology at the

and served as a staff biologist at the

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI, ) is located in Panama and is the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States. It is dedicated to understanding the past, present, and future of tropical ecosyst ...

. At the Field Museum he founded the Live Photos of Plants project and Rapid Reference Collection. In 2013, Foster was elected an honorary fellow of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC).

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Robin B. American ecologists Living people Dartmouth College alumni Duke University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)