Susan Harrison (ecologist)
{{other people|Susan Harrison}}
{{Short description|Professor of ecology}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Susan Harrison
| birth_name = Susan Patricia Harrison
| thesis_year = 1989
| alma_mater = Stanford University
University of California, Davis
| thesis_title = The metapopulation dynamics of the Bay checkerspot butterfly, Euphydryas editha bayensis
| thesis_url = https://jrbp.stanford.edu/research/publications/harrison-susan-patricia-1989-metapopulation-dynamics-bay-checkerspot-butterfly
| workplaces = University of California, Davis
| awards = Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2018)
| fields = Ecology
| website = {{URL|https://desp.ucdavis.edu/people/susan-p-harrison}}
}}
Susan Patricia Harrison is a professor of ecology at the University of California, Davis who works on the dynamics of natural populations and ecological diversity. She is a fellow of the Ecological Society of America and the California Academy of Sciences. She has previously served as vice president of the American Society of Naturalists.{{Google scholar id}} She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2018.
Early life and education
Harrison is from Sonoma, California. She studied zoology at University of California, Davis and graduated in 1983.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20044160.html|title=Susan Harrison|website=www.nasonline.org|access-date=2019-05-01}}{{Cite web|url=https://ucnrs.org/nrs-researcher-susan-harrison-elected-to-national-academy-of-sciences/|title=NRS researcher Susan Harrison elected to National Academy of Sciences|date=2018-05-11|website=UCNRS|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-01}} Harrison switched to ecology for her graduate studies, and earned a master's degree in 1986. Harrison joined Stanford University for her doctoral studies, completing her PhD in biology in 1989.{{Cite web|url=https://biology.ucdavis.edu/people/susan-harrison|title=Susan Harrison {{!}} College of Biological Sciences|website=biology.ucdavis.edu|date=December 2014 |access-date=2019-05-01}} Her doctoral work considered the Edith's checkerspot butterfly and was supervised by Paul R. Ehrlich and Richard Karban.{{Cite web|url=https://www.int-res.com/ecology-institute/irpe-prize/|title=Inter Research » Ecology Institute » IRPE Prize|website=www.int-res.com|access-date=2019-05-01}}{{Cite web|url=https://academictree.org/tereco/tree.php?pid=63676|title=Terrestrial Ecology Tree - Susan P. Harrison Family Tree|website=academictree.org|access-date=2019-05-01}}{{Cite journal|last1=Harrison|first1=Susan|last2=Murphy|first2=Dennis D.|last3=Ehrlich|first3=Paul R.|date=1988|title=Distribution of the Bay Checkerspot Butterfly, Euphydryas editha bayensis: Evidence for a Metapopulation Model|journal=The American Naturalist|volume=132|issue=3|pages=360–382|issn=0003-0147|jstor=2461988|doi=10.1086/284858|s2cid=55140501}}{{Cite journal|last=Harrison|first=Susan|date=1989|title=Long-Distance Dispersal and Colonization in the Bay Checkerspot Butterfly, Euphydryas Editha Bayensis|journal=Ecology|language=en|volume=70|issue=5|pages=1236–1243|doi=10.2307/1938181|issn=1939-9170|jstor=1938181}}
Research and career
After her PhD, Harrison was a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London, where she worked at Silwood Park.{{Cite journal |last=Harrison |first=Susan |date=1990-11-08 |title=Ecological discontinuity |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=348 |issue=6297 |pages=123–124 |doi=10.1038/348123a0 |issn=1476-4687|bibcode=1990Natur.348..123H |s2cid=4309255 |doi-access=free }} Harrison was appointed to the faculty at University of California, Davis in 1991. She is a member of the John Muir Institute of the Environment. Her research considers plant species diversity. She has extensively studied the flora of the California region, and found that species and phylogenetic diversity align with the region's climate gradients. The small-scale local diversity is similar to the large-scale diversity within the region.{{Cite web|url=https://ecology.wisc.edu/symposium/|title=Wisconsin Ecology|website=ecology.wisc.edu|access-date=2019-05-01}} She studied metapopulations, which has previously been explained as existing between colonisation and extinction. Harrison demonstrated that the formation of metapopulations is more complicated; and can be patchy, non-equilibrium and geographical.{{Cite journal|last=Harrison|first=Susan|date=1991-01-01|title=Local extinction in a metapopulation context: an empirical evaluation|journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society|language=en|volume=42|issue=1–2|pages=73–88|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8312.1991.tb00552.x|issn=0024-4066}}
She works on both the Californian grasslands and Oregon forest understories. She found that these regions had suffered from climate change, in particular the warmer, drier climate has resulted in a decline in plant community diversity.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-wildflower-diversity-loss-20150623-story.html|title=Scientists see climate change in action in California wildflower fields|last=Harris-Lovett|first=Sasha|date=2015-06-24|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502140324/https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-wildflower-diversity-loss-20150623-story.html|archive-date=May 2, 2019|url-status=live}} Species that had functional traits including drought intolerance are particularly vulnerable. In situations where nutrients are the most limiting resource, climate has less of an impact.
Harrison has studied California's wildflowers, which have been shown to be particularly resilient to drought.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180301103650.htm|title=Native wildflowers bank on seeds underground to endure drought: Exotic grasses depleted seed bank accounts during drought while natives saved|website=ScienceDaily|language=en|access-date=2019-05-01}} These wildflowers keep part of their seeds dormant in seed banks underground, which they can disperse when the weather is appropriate. Wildflowers that are more resilient to drought have larger underground seed banks.{{Cite web|url=https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/native-wildflowers-bank-seeds-underground-endure-drought|title=Native Wildflowers Bank on Seeds Underground to Endure Drought|last=Kerlin|first=Kat|website=biology.ucdavis.edu|date=March 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-05-01}} She has also studied California's wildfires near the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve.{{Cite web|url=https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/burning-questions-wildfires-two-uc-davis-natural-reserves-spark-scientific-exploration|title=Burning Questions: Wildfires at Two UC Davis Natural Reserves Spark Scientific Exploration|last=Kerlin|first=Kat|website=biology.ucdavis.edu|date=10 May 2016 |language=en|access-date=2019-05-01}} Almost half of the grasslands studied by Harrison were impacted by the 2015 California wildfires. She has studied the native plant species in the serpentine soils of California with Brian Anacker.{{Cite book|url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520268357/serpentine|title=Serpentine|date=February 2011 |isbn=9780520268357 |language=en |last1=Harrison |first1=Susan |last2=Rajakaruna |first2=Nishanta |publisher=University of California Press }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.colorado.edu/ebio/brian-anacker|title=Brian Anacker|date=2015-11-03|website=Ecology and Evolutionary Biology|language=en|access-date=2019-05-01}}
In 2018, Harrison was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/ecologist-susan-harrison-elected-national-academy|title=Ecologist Susan Harrison Elected to National Academy|date=2018-05-08|website=UC Davis|language=EN|access-date=2019-05-01}} She serves on the scientific advisory board of the Siskiyou County Field Institute.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thesfi.org/Page.asp?NavID=726|title=Siskiyou Field Institute - 2014 Instructors|website=www.thesfi.org|access-date=2019-05-01}} She is a member of the editorial board of the Proceedings of the Royal Society.{{Cite web|url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/editorial-board|title=Editorial board {{!}} Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|website=royalsocietypublishing.org|access-date=2019-05-01}}
Awards and honours
- 1997 International Recognition of Professional Excellence Prize
- 2004 Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences{{Cite web|url=https://johnmuir.ucdavis.edu/people/susan-harrison/|title=Dr. Susan Harrison|website=John Muir Institute of the Environment|language=en|access-date=2019-05-01}}
- 2005 American Society of Naturalists Vice-President{{Cite journal|last=Bronstein|first=Judith L.|date=2004|title=Secretary's Report, 2004: American Society of Naturalists|journal=The American Naturalist|volume=164|issue=6|pages=824–827|doi=10.1086/426483|issn=0003-0147|jstor=10.1086/426483|s2cid=82185532}}
- 2013 Fellow of the Ecological Society of America{{Cite web|url=https://www.esa.org/programs/fellows-program/esa-fellows/|title=ESA Fellows – Ecological Society of America|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-01}}
- 2018 Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
Selected works
- {{Cite book|title=Serpentine: The Evolution and Ecology of a Model System|last=Harrison|first=Susan|publisher=University of California Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0520268357}}
References
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Category:People from Sonoma, California
Category:University of California, Davis alumni
Category:University of California, Davis faculty
Category:Academics of Imperial College London
Category:Stanford University alumni
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences