David George Campbell
Encyclopedia
David George Campbell is an American educator, ecologist, environmentalist, and award-winning author of nonfiction.
Campbell spent his childhood on Eleuthera Island, Bahamas, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He received a BS in biology from Kalamazoo College
(1971), an MS in biology from the University of Michigan
(1973), and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (1984). He is married to Karen S. Lowell, a phytochemist; they have a daughter.
, the organization responsible for parks, reserves, and setting priorities for wildlife conservation in the Bahamian Archipelago. During his tenure as Director he established priorities for the protection of island-endemic species such as rock iguanas (Cyclura spp.) and hutias, and started the process of the Bahamas becoming a signatory to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). His career in the Bahamas cumulated in the publication of The Ephemeral Islands, the first natural history of the archipelago to be published since the 1800s.
, várzea floodplain forests and anthropogenic lianaceous forests. The Acre expeditions were chronicled in A Land of Ghosts, which won the Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction.
. From 1994-2007 he and his Grinnell students conducted studies on the historical ecology of the Yucatec, Mopan and Kekchi Maya
of Belize, using quantitative methods to test the long-held hypothesis that the Maya Forest is anthropogenic, even suggesting that its species composition was due to post-contact ranching. In 2010 Campbell extrapolated this controversial hypothesis to Amazonia, presenting evidence that pre-Columbian Native Americans caused a large-scale extinction of botanical diversity before the Europeans arrived.
Campbell spent his childhood on Eleuthera Island, Bahamas, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He received a BS in biology from Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo College, also known as K College or simply K, is a private liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1833, the college is among the 100 oldest in the country. Today, it produces more Peace Corps volunteers per capita than any other U.S...
(1971), an MS in biology from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
(1973), and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (1984). He is married to Karen S. Lowell, a phytochemist; they have a daughter.
Bahama Islands
From 1974-1977 Campbell was the executive Director of the Bahamas National TrustBahamas National Trust
The Bahamas National Trust is a non-profit organisation in the Bahamas that manages the country's twenty-five national parks. Its headquarters is at the located in New Providence at The Retreat Gardens on Village Road...
, the organization responsible for parks, reserves, and setting priorities for wildlife conservation in the Bahamian Archipelago. During his tenure as Director he established priorities for the protection of island-endemic species such as rock iguanas (Cyclura spp.) and hutias, and started the process of the Bahamas becoming a signatory to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). His career in the Bahamas cumulated in the publication of The Ephemeral Islands, the first natural history of the archipelago to be published since the 1800s.
Chincoteague Bay
From 1978-1983 Campbell elucidated the etiology of gray crab disease, an amoebic pathogen that every spring kills ca. 30% of the blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) in Chincoteague Bay, VA. His research showed that the disease is spread by cannibalism, mediated by ambient temperature and salinity.Amazonia
In 1974 Campbell was a botanical explorer at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil, from where he staged expeditions to study the ethnobotany of the Jamamaji and Paumari Native Americans. Campbell joined the scientific staff of the New York Botanical Garden from 1984-1990, conducting floristic inventories throughout Brazilian Amazonia as part of the Projeto Flora Amazônica program; destinations included O Deserto on the Rio Xingu (Pará), the Rio Falsino (Amapá), Ilha de Maracá (Roraima), the Rio Moa and Serra Divisor (Acre). These expeditions resulted in several notable papers on allelopathyAllelopathy
Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms. These biochemicals are known as allelochemicals and can have beneficial or detrimental effects on the target organisms...
, várzea floodplain forests and anthropogenic lianaceous forests. The Acre expeditions were chronicled in A Land of Ghosts, which won the Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction.
Antarctica, Africa and Asia
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Campbell shifted his research to Africa, Asia and Antarctica: studying the impacts of elephants on west African forests, the diversity of subtropical forests in southern China, and conducting research on the pathologies of krill and marine isopods in the waters of Admiralty Bay, King George Island, one of the South Shetlands of the Antarctic Peninsula, joining the sixth Brazilian expedition to Antarctica (1988) and living at that nation's Comandante Ferraz Base. This experience was chronicled in The Crystal Desert, which won the Burroughs Medal, the PEN Martha Albrand Award and the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award.Grinnell College
Since 1991 Campbell has been a professor of biology, chair of environmental studies and Henry R. Luce Professor in Nations and the Global Environment at Grinnell CollegeGrinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
. From 1994-2007 he and his Grinnell students conducted studies on the historical ecology of the Yucatec, Mopan and Kekchi Maya
Maya peoples
The Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...
of Belize, using quantitative methods to test the long-held hypothesis that the Maya Forest is anthropogenic, even suggesting that its species composition was due to post-contact ranching. In 2010 Campbell extrapolated this controversial hypothesis to Amazonia, presenting evidence that pre-Columbian Native Americans caused a large-scale extinction of botanical diversity before the Europeans arrived.
Literary career
Campbell is the author of four books of creative nonfiction. Two, The Crystal Desert and A Land of Ghosts, have been highly acclaimed.Books
- The Ephemeral Islands. 1977. Macmillan. London. ASIN: B0000EH0ZI
- Floristic Inventory of Tropical Countries. (coedited with H. D. Hammond). 1989. New York Botanical Garden. ISBN 0893273333
- The Crystal Desert. 1991. Houghton Mifflin. Boston. ISBN 0618219218
- Islands in Space and Time. 1996. Houghton Mifflin. Boston. ISBN 0395680832
- A Land of Ghosts. 2006. Houghton Mifflin. Boston. ISBN 0813540526
Honors and awards
- Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
(1989; General Nonfiction) - Burroughs Medal (1994)
- Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award (1993)
- PEN Martha Albrand Award (1993)
- Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction (2005)
- Distinguished Alumni Award, Kalamazoo College (1995)
- Elected fellow of the Linnean Society of London, the Royal Geographical SocietyRoyal Geographical SocietyThe Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
, the Explorers Club - Appointed, the National Association of Science WritersNational Association of Science WritersThe National Association of Science Writers was created in 1934 by a dozen science journalists and reporters in New York City. The aim of the organization was to improve the craft of science journalism and to promote good science reportage....
(NASW).