Deborah Clark

Deborah A Clark is a tropical ecologist working as a research and adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She has worked along with her partner David B. Clark for over forty years studying zoology, botany, geosciences, ecology, and climatology in relation to tropical rainforests in Costa Rica.^[1]

Personal Life

Deborah A. Clark married her long-time partner and current husband David B. Clark in 1970, having met each other on their first day of college at the University of North Carolina in 1966.^[2]

Education

Clark graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1970 with a B.A. in Biology. She then went on to the University of Wisconsin to graduate with her Ph.D. in Zoology (with a minor in botany) in 1978.^[1]

Professional Work

Early years

After obtaining her Ph.D., Clark accepted a position with the Point Reyes Bird Observatory in Stinson Beach, California between 1978 and 1979. In 1979, Clark and her husband became the first co-directors of La Selva Biological Station—which is run and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies—where they worked on developing the research station and establish some of the long term studies that continues to this day.^[2] The Clarks developed a concrete trail throughout 5 kilometers of the reserve with grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, they set 100 meter transects to help others navigate despite , and conducted demographic studies of the tree species while marking and mapping six different species.

After La Selva

The Clarks stepped down from their directorships in 1994 to conduct to research full time and contribute to what we know about tropical forest structure, life histories of tropical trees, and the effects of climate change^[3]. With funding from numerous sources, they implemented a 42 meter tower to measure atmospheric carbon as part a global array dedicated to studying climate change.^[2]

Citations

1.    http://science.sciencemag.org/content/300/5619/566.full?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1052243823323_9300&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&volume=300&firstpage=566&fdate=10/1/1995&tdate=5/31/2003

2.    https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Deborah_Clark2/info

3.    https://www.umsl.edu/~biology/About%20the%20Department/Faculty/deborahclark.html