Margaret Bryan Davis

Margaret Bryan Davis
Born
Margaret Bryan

(1931-10-23)October 23, 1931
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMay 22, 2024(2024-05-22) (aged 92)
Colorado, U.S.
Occupation(s)biologist and paleoecologist
Known forwork in the study of plant pollen and past vegetation
SpouseRowland Davis

Margaret Bryan Davis (née Margaret Bryan; October 23, 1931 – May 22, 2024) was an American palynologist and paleoecologist, who used pollen data to study the vegetation history of the past 21,000 years (i.e. since the last ice age). She showed conclusively that temperate- and boreal-forest species migrated at different rates and in different directions while forming a changing mosaic of communities.[1][2] Early in her career, she challenged the standard methods and prevailing interpretations of the data and fostered rigorous analysis in palynology.[3][4][5] As a leading figure in ecology and paleoecology, she served as president of the Ecological Society of America and the American Quaternary Association and as chair of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota. In 1982 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and, in 1993, received the Eminent Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society of America.[6]

  1. ^ Davis, Margaret. "Pleistocene biogeography of temperate deciduous forests". Geoscience and Man. 13: 13–26.
  2. ^ West, D. C. (1981). Forest Succession. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 132–177.
  3. ^ Davis, Margaret (1973). "Differential sedimentation of pollen grains in lakes". Limnology and Oceanography. 18 (4): 635–646. Bibcode:1973LimOc..18..635D. doi:10.4319/lo.1973.18.4.0635. hdl:2027.42/110110.
  4. ^ Davis, Margaret (1963). "On the theory of pollen analysis". American Journal of Science. 261 (10): 897–912. Bibcode:1963AmJS..261..897D. doi:10.2475/ajs.261.10.897.
  5. ^ Davis, Margaret (1991). "Detecting a species limit from pollen in sediments". Journal of Biogeography. 18 (6): 653–668. Bibcode:1991JBiog..18..653D. doi:10.2307/2845547. JSTOR 2845547.
  6. ^ "Eminent Ecologist Award" (PDF). Ecological Society of America. Retrieved 26 March 2020.