John Cairns (ecologist)

John Cairns, Jr. (born May 8, 1923 in Conshohocken , Montgomery County , Pennsylvania , USA ; † November 5, 2017 in Blacksburg , Virginia , USA ) was an internationally recognized American ecologist , limnologist ( hydrobiologist ), ecotoxicologist and a international authority for research into and restoration of aquatic ecosystems . As a university lecturer at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg , his teaching program covered a broad spectrum, ranging from research into protozoa (protozoologist) limnology, ecotoxicology, risk analysis of ecosystems , renaturation of (aquatic) ecosystems ( renaturation ecology ), (effects of human interventions on the Environment) to scientific ethics. As the author of numerous specialist books and countless articles in specialist journals, he addressed the ever-increasing destruction of the environment through excessive human intervention in the structure of nature. He was a member a. a. the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , the American Philosophical Society , the Linnean Society of London and the National Academy of Sciences, and President of the American Microscopical Society .

Life

John Cairns Jr. grew up in the small town of Conshohocken, Montgomery County , in southeastern Pennsylvania , north of Philadelphia . He first attended Conshohocken High School. After graduating in 1940, he began studying biology , chemistry and physics at Swarthmore College . But as early as 1941, after the attack by the Japanese armed forces on the US Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor , he interrupted his studies, voluntarily joined the US armed forces and served in the US Navy until February 1946 .

During the war, he married on August 5, 1944 Jean (never) Barbara Ogden († February 21, 2005) a biochemist whom he had met in 1941 at Swarthmore College. The couple had four children - Karen (Jean) (* 1945) Stefan (Hugh) (* 1949), Duncan (Jay) (* 1954) and Heather (* 1959).

After the war, Cairns resumed the abandoned studies at Swarthmore College and made a BA in biology with minor subjects in chemistry and physics in 1947 . He then studied at the University of Pennsylvania and made here in 1949, initially his MS (Master of Science) then, in 1953, his doctoral Ph.D. in zoology . (Cairns, J., Jr. 1953. Protozoan populations of the Savannah River. Pages 1-125 in AEC report, Savannah River. Biological Survey, June, 1951-May, 1952. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, PA.) Es Postdoctoral studies at Hahnemann Medical College followed from 1954 to 1955.

While he was still working on his dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania in 1948 he was given the opportunity to work as a protozoologist as part of a research project from his mentor, the botanist and limnologist Ruth Patrick († 2013), who specialized in freshwater ecology, and the effects to investigate environmental toxins on the aquatic communities of the Conestoga River and Brandywine River in southeastern Pennsylvania. Both rivers were heavily polluted by toxic wastewater from agricultural crops (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus), industrial and urban waste and sewage. In the project, contrary to the previous approach, the chemical composition / pollution of the water in these rivers was no longer investigated, but for the first time plants, insects, fish and other organisms, as well as microorganisms ( protozoa , diatoms ), were also used to assess the water quality (see saprobic system - micro and macro saprobia). By determining occurrence, frequency, diversity ( biodiversity ), health, disease or the complete absence of these indicators, the different degrees of water pollution ( water quality classes ) of lakes and rivers could be determined much more precisely. In the study, an attempt was made for the first time to show the complex structure of dependency between residents (garbage and jobs), industry (waste, sewage and waste disposal costs), agriculture (liquid manure, pesticides) state regulatory authorities (compliance with laws). Such interdisciplinary / interdisciplinary studies were something completely new at the time.

In 1947, the Limnology Department (Patrick Center for Environmental Research) was established at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia , where interdisciplinary teams of scientists a. a. examined the relationships between biodiversity as a key requirement for the water quality of freshwater systems. Cairns worked at the Academy from 1948 to 1966 as a curator of limnology. From 1961 to 1963 (then again in 1971, 1984 to 1987 and 1989 to 1994) he taught at the RMBL (Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory) and 1962–1963 (simultaneously) at the National Science Foundation Institute (NSF) of Temple University , Philadelphia, Department of Education, then from 1964 to 1970 (and 1972 to 1983) at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) in Pellston, Michigan . In 1966 he began as a professor of zoology at the University of Kansas (KU), but where the research conditions did not meet his expectations. From 1968 to 1972 at Virginia Tech as (Research) Professor of Zoology and here he got the funding / research money he needed.

Web links

• johncairns.net/
• In memoriam: John Cairns, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Environmental Biology - Obituary

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (autobiography), Chapter 38 "My Boyhood Home"
2. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (autobiography), Chapter 45 "The Long Goodbye", p. 3)
3. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 31 "The Most important day of my life"
4. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 45 "The Long Goodbye", p. 2)
5. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 32 "Co-Evolving with Jeannie", p. 5
6. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 37 "Our World War II Low-Budget Marriage and Honeymoon"
7. ↑ ^{a b c} John Cairns, Jr .: Curriculum Vitae
8. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 31 "The Most important day of my life"
9. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 32 "Co-Evolving with Jeannie"
10. ^ The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University: 200 Years. 200 stories. Story 86: “Conestoga Stream Survey” ( Memento of the original from December 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Los Angeles Times September 24, 2013: Ruth Patrick dies at 105; pioneer in freshwater ecosystem research
12. ↑ Ruth Patrick: A proposed biological measure of stream conditions based on a survey of Conestoga Basin, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 101 (1949), pp. 277-341
13. ^ The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University: 200 Years. 200 stories. Story 85: “Celebrating a Pioneer” ( Memento of the original from December 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
14. ↑ The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University: Pioneering Ecologist Dr. Ruth Patrick this
15. ↑ Los Angeles Times September 24, 2013: Ruth Patrick dies at 105; pioneer in freshwater ecosystem research
16. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 31 "The Most important day of my life"
17. ^ John Cairns, Jr .: Resolution of Respect: Ruth Patrick 1907-2013. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 95 (2014), pp. 11-13
18. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 31 "The Most important day of my life"
19. ↑ John Cairns Jr .: My Quest for Sustainable Use of the Planet (Autobiography), Chapter 32 "Co-Evolving with Jeannie", p. 4
20. ^ University of Michigan - Biological Station (UMBS)