Edward Smith Deevey, Jr.

Edward Smith Deevey, Jr. (3 December 1914 – 29 November 1988), born in Albany, New York, was a prominent American ecologist and paleolimnologist, and an early protégé of G. Evelyn Hutchinson at Yale University. He was a creative pioneer in several areas, including quantitative palynology, cycling of natural isotopes, biogeochemistry, population dynamics, systematics and ecology of freshwater zooplankton, and he promoted the use of life tables in ecology.

In 1938, Deevey received his Ph.D. in Zoology from Yale University as a student of Hutchinson. He taught at Yale from 1946 to 1968. In 1971, he became curator of paleoecology at the Florida Museum of Natural History and a research professor at the University of Florida, where he remained until the time of his death.

Deevey served as President of the Ecological Society of America in 1969-70, and in 1982, received the Eminent Ecologist Award from that organization. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1981.

Selected publications

• 1937 Pollen from interglacial beds in the Panggong Valley and its climatic interpretation. Am. J. Sci. 235:44-56.
• 1939 Studies of Connecticut lake sediments. I. A postglacial climatic chronology for southern New England. Am. J. Sci. 237:691-724.
• 1939 With G. E. Hutchinson and A. Wollack. The oxidation-reduction potentials of lake waters and their ecological significance. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 25:87-90.
• 1940 Limnological studies in Connecticut, V. A contribution to regional limnology. Am. J. Sci. 238:717-14.
• 1941 Limnological studies in Connecticut. VI. The quantity and composition of the bottom fauna of thirty-six Connecticut and New York lakes. Ecol. Monogr. 11:413-55.
• 1942 Studies on Connecticut lake sediments. III. The biostratonomy of Linsley Pond. Am. J. Sci. 240:233-64, 313-38.
• 1942 A re-examination of Thoreau's "Walden." Q. Rev. Biol. 17:1-11.
• 1945 With G. B. Deevey. A life table for the black widow. Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts Sci. 36:115-34.
• 1947 Life tables for natural populations of animals. Q. Rev. Biol. 22:283-314. (Reprinted in Readings in Population and Community Ecology, ed. W. E. Hazen. Philadelphia: Saunders.
• 1949 Biogeography of the Pleistocene. Part 1. Europe and North America. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 60:1315-1416.
• 1950 Hydroids from Louisiana and Texas, with remarks on the Pleistocene biogeography of the western Gulf of Mexico. Ecology 31:334-67.
• 1951 Late-glacial and postglacial pollen diagrams from Maine. Am. J. Sci. 249:117-207.
• 1951 With R. F. Flint. Radiocarbon dating of late-Pleistocene events. Am. J. Sci. 249:257-300.
• 1952 Radiocarbon dating. Sci. Am. 186:24-28.
• 1954 With M. S. Gross, G. E. Hutchinson, and H. Kraybill. The natural C14 contents of materials from hard-water lakes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 40:285-88.
• 1955 The obliteration of the hypolimnion. Mem. Inst. Ital. Idrobiol. 8(Suppl.):9-38.
• 1955 Paleolimnology of the Upper Swamp deposit, Pyramid Valley. Rec. Cant. Mus. 6:291-344.
• 1957 Limnologic studies in Middle America, with a chapter on Aztec limnology. Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts Sci. 39:213-328.
• 1960 With S. Oana. Carbon 13 in lake waters, and its possible bearing on paleolimnology. Am. J. Sci. 258-A:253-72.
• 1963 With N. Nakai and M. Stuiver. Fractionation of sulfur and carbon isotopes in a meromictic lake. Science 139:407-408.
• 1964 With M. Stuiver. Distribution of natural isotopes of carbon in Linsley Pond and other New England lakes. Limnol. Oceanogr. 9:1-11.
• 1964 With M. B. Davis. Pollen accumulation rates: Estimates from late-glacial sediment of Rogers Lake. Science 145:1293-95.
• 1967 With M. Tsukada. Pollen analyses from four lakes in the southern Maya area of Guatemala and El Salvador. In Pleistocene Paleoecology, eds. E. Cushing and H. E. Wright, pp. 303–31. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• 1970 In defense of mud. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Am. 51:5-8.
• 1979 With D. S. Rice, P. M. Rice, H. H. Vaughan, M. Brenner, and M. S. Flannery. Mayan urbanism: Impact on a tropical karst environment. Science 206:298-306.
• 1983 With M. W. Binford and T. L. Crisman. Paleolimnology: A historical perspective on lacustrine ecosystems. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 14:255-86.
• 1983 With D. R. Hitchcock. Coastal and inland natural H2S resources. In Acid Deposition, Causes and Effects: A State Assessment Model, ed. A. E. S. Green and W. H. Smith, pp 162–71. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.
• 1984 B. P. Zero plus 34: 25 years of Radiocarbon. Radiocarbon 26:1-6.
• 1987 With M. W. Binford, M. Brenner, T. J. Whitmore, A. Huguera-Gundy, and B. Leyden. Ecosystems, paleoecology and human disturbance in tropical and subtropical America. Quat. Sci. Rev. 6(2):115-28.
• 1987 Estimation of downward leakage from Florida lakes. Limnol. Oceanogr. 33:1308-20.