Howard Nelson (ecologist)

Howard Nelson, Ph.D. is a Trinidadian ecologist and wildlife biologist. He is the CEO and Conservation Manager at the Asa Wright Nature Centre located in the Arima Valley in Trinidad's Northern Range.

Nelson earned his Bachelors and Master's degrees at the University of the West Indies and his Doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison under the guidance of Stanley Temple. For his doctoral work Nelson completed a re-classification of the vegetation communities of Trinidad and Tobago, a massive undertaking which updates John Stanley Beard's 1946 classification.

While working as the Environmental Biologist in the Ministry of the Environment, Nelson played an important role in the drafting of laws to establish a National Parks and Wildlife Authority which, had it been implemented, would have radically altered the responsibility for environmental management in Trinidad and Tobago.

References

• Nelson, Howard P. 2004. Tropical forest ecosystems of Trinidad: Ecological patterns and public perceptions. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• 20 July 2005 - Launch of a new public education poster on the Pawi (Pipile pipile) (references Nelson as CEO of Asa Wright)
• Making a Gift to the Asa Wright Nature Centre (references Nelson as CEO and Conservation Manager).
• Fairhead, J. and M. Leach, 2000, Science, policy and national parks in Trinidad and Tobago. Working paper, draft mimeo, IDS pdf (background and context for the drive to develop a national parks system).