Gary A. Polis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gary Allan Polis (born August 28, 1946 in Los Angeles ; died March 27, 2000 in the Gulf of California ) was an American arachnologist and ecologist . His main research interests were scorpion biology , food webs and trophic cascades .

Life

Gary A. Polis studied at Loyola University in Los Angeles. He received his bachelor's degree in biology and psychology in 1969. He then worked as a teacher at El Camino Real High School in Los Angeles, where he was named Teacher of the Year in 1972 . He continued his studies at the University of California, Riverside , where he studied the Vaejovidae , a family of scorpions. To date, thanks to Polis' early research, Smeringurus mesaensis is the species of scorpion whose ecology has been most thoroughly studied. Polis received his master's degree in 1975 and graduated in 1977 with a doctorate in biology.

From 1977 to 1979 Polis taught as a lecturer at Oregon State University . Then he moved to the Vanderbilt University , where he Zoology of invertebrates and marine biology taught and in 1992 became a professor. Polis moved to the University of California, Davis in 1998 . From July 1998 until his death there he held the chair for environmental sciences and environmental policy.

Polis was the author and editor of several books. The Biology of Scorpions , which he edited and co-authored , was referred to as the “Scorpion Bible” and is still a standard work today. Another groundbreaking work followed in 1991 with The ecology of desert communities , with which he gave up his focus on scorpions. His later research focused on food webs and trophic cascades and resulted in several books, some of which were published posthumously. Polis' last major work, Scorpion biology and research , was also published only after his death.

Polis was considered one of the most important arachnologists of the late 20th century and in an obituary, also because of his media presence, was called the "most famous scorpion researcher in the world". He was an expert on desert animal ecology and advised the US government on desert scorpions during the Second Gulf War . His work as an ecologist was supported by more than $ 500,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation in the 1990s , making him one of the best-funded ecologists in the world. Most recently, he focused on the ecology of small islands in the Gulf of California, where he made frequent excursions.

Gary A. Polis, along with an employee of his university and three scientists from Kyoto University, died when their research boat capsized in a surprising storm in the Gulf of California . According to one of the four survivors, Polis had tried to save other victims. Polis left behind his wife and two children.

Dedication names

Publications (selection)

  • Gary A. Polis (Ed.): The biology of scorpions. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1990, ISBN 0-8047-1249-2 .
  • Gary A. Polis (Ed.): The ecology of desert communities. University of Arizona Press, Tucson 1991, ISBN 0-8165-1186-1 .
  • Larry P. Pringle and Gary A. Polis: Scorpion Man: Exploring the World of Scorpions. Scribner's Sons, New York 1994, ISBN 0-684-19560-7 (children's book).
  • Gary A. Polis: Food webs. Integration of patterns & dynamics. 2nd print Kluwer, Boston 2001, ISBN 0-412-04051-4 .
  • Philip R. Brownell and Gary A. Polis: Scorpion biology and research. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-508434-9 .
  • Gary A. Polis, Mary E. Power and Gary R. Huxel (Eds.): Food webs at the landscape level. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2004, ISBN 0-226-67327-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Donald R. Strong and Alan Hastings: Resolution of respect. Gary Allen Polis. August 28, 1946– March 29, 2000. In: Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 2001, Volume 82, No. 2, pp. 110–111, Online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.esa.org%2Fhistory%2Fobits%2FPolis_GA.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 450 kB.
  2. ↑ a b c Victor Fet: Obituary. некролог. Гэри Аллан Полис (1946-2000). In: Arthropoda Selecta 2000, Volume 8, No. 4, pp. 293-295, ISSN  0136-006X (Russian and English). Reprinted in parts slightly changed in: Newsletter of the British Arachnological Society 2000, Volume 89, Online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.science.marshall.edu%2Ffet%2Feuscorpius%2Ffetpubl%2FFet%25202000%2520obituary%2520Polis%2520BAS.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~ MDZ% ​​3D% 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 2.0 MB (English).
  3. ↑ a b Wolfgang Saxon: Gary Allan Polis, 53, an expert on scorpions and desert ecology , The New York Times, April 1, 2000, accessed December 2, 2017.
  4. ^ Gary A. Polis et al .: Island food webs. In: Ted J. Case, Martin L. Cody and Exequiel Ezcurra (Eds.): A new Island biogeography of the sea of ​​Cortes. Oxford University Press, New York 2001, ISBN 0-19-513346-3 .
  5. ↑ David Malakoff: Ecologists Drown During Research Trip , Science Magazine, March 30, 2000, accessed December 2, 2017.
  6. ↑ Robert Salladay: Emotional UC Davis survivors recall heroes who died saving them , San Francisco Examiner, March 31, 2000 accessed December 2, 2017th
personal data
SURNAME Polis, Gary A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Polis, Gary Allan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American arachnologist and ecologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 2000
Place of death Gulf of California