Elsie Quarterman
Encyclopedia
Elsie Quarterman is a prominent plant ecologist. She is a Professor Emerita at Vanderbilt University
.
Quarterman completed her Ph.D. at Duke University
in 1949 with Henry J. Oosting
. During her graduate work and afterward, she also collaborated extensively with Catherine Keever.
Quarterman is best known for her work on the ecology of Tennessee
cedar glades. These herb-dominated plant communities on the shallow soils of limestone
outcrop
s are globally rare habitats and contain many endemic plant species. She is also credited with rediscovering the native Tennessee coneflower, Echinacea tennesseensis
, which was thought to be extinct, in 1969. The species is now considered federally endangered.
She supervised seven doctoral students, including Stewart Ware, a plant ecologist at the College of William and Mary
, and Carol C. Baskin and Jerry M. Baskin, professors at the University of Kentucky
. Throughout her career, Quarterman has also been active in conservation.
gives an annual Quarterman-Keever Award to the best student poster in ecology. The Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade, a 185 acre (0.7486691 km²) natural area that is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Percy Priest Reservoir and Wildlife Management Area near La Vergne, Tennessee, is named in her honor. In 2008, an annual spring wildflower event at Cedars of Lebanon State Park
, celebrated annually for over 30 years, was renamed the Elsie Quarterman Wildflower Weekend.
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
.
Quarterman completed her Ph.D. at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
in 1949 with Henry J. Oosting
Henry J. Oosting
Henry J. Oosting was an American ecologist and professor. He was born in Holland, Michigan. Oosting attended Michigan State University, where he received the M.S. degree in 1927, then studied with W.S. Cooper at the University of Minnesota, receiving his Ph.D...
. During her graduate work and afterward, she also collaborated extensively with Catherine Keever.
Quarterman is best known for her work on the ecology of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
cedar glades. These herb-dominated plant communities on the shallow soils of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
outcrop
Outcrop
An outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. -Features:Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be...
s are globally rare habitats and contain many endemic plant species. She is also credited with rediscovering the native Tennessee coneflower, Echinacea tennesseensis
Echinacea tennesseensis
Echinacea tennesseensis, also known as the Tennessee coneflower or Tennessee purple coneflower, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, endemic to the cedar glades of the central portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Description:...
, which was thought to be extinct, in 1969. The species is now considered federally endangered.
She supervised seven doctoral students, including Stewart Ware, a plant ecologist at the College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
, and Carol C. Baskin and Jerry M. Baskin, professors at the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
. Throughout her career, Quarterman has also been active in conservation.
Honors
Quarterman became the first woman Department Chair at Vanderbilt when she chaired the Biology Department in 1964. The Tennessee Academy of Science honored Quarterman with the 2003 Distinguished College/University Scientist Award. The Southeastern Chapter of the Ecological Society of AmericaEcological Society of America
The Ecological Society of America is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States, ESA publishes a suite of publications, from peer-reviewed journals to newsletters, fact sheets and teaching resources. It holds an annual meeting at different locations in the...
gives an annual Quarterman-Keever Award to the best student poster in ecology. The Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade, a 185 acre (0.7486691 km²) natural area that is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Percy Priest Reservoir and Wildlife Management Area near La Vergne, Tennessee, is named in her honor. In 2008, an annual spring wildflower event at Cedars of Lebanon State Park
Cedars of Lebanon State Park
Cedars of Lebanon State Park is a state park in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It consists of situated amidst the Cedars of Lebanon State Forest...
, celebrated annually for over 30 years, was renamed the Elsie Quarterman Wildflower Weekend.
Selected works
- Quarterman, Elsie. 1950. Major plant communities of Tennessee cedar glades. Ecology 31: 234–254.
- Quarterman, Elsie. 1957. Early Plant Succession on Abandoned Cropland in the Central Basin of Tennessee. Ecology 38: 300-309.
- Quarterman, Elsie, and Catherine Keever. 1962. Southern mixed hardwood forest: climax in the southeastern Coastal Plain. Ecological Monographs 32: 167–185.
- Quarterman, Elsie, Barbara Holman Turner, and Thomas E. Hemmerly. 1972. Analysis of virgin mixed mesophytic forests in Savage Gulf, Tennessee. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 99: 228-232.