Fundamentals of Ecology

Gene Odum completed a Ph.D. in zoology with a major in ecology from the University of Illinois and served a year as resident naturalist at the Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville, N.Y. He obtained the initial grant from the Atomic Energy Commission that established the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. In 1970, the year he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Odum gained statewide fame for demonstrating the economic value of Georgia¿s undeveloped wetlands and thereby helping amass political support for the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act. Gene Odum is the recipient of the highest honors given in ecology ¿ the Prix de l¿Institut de la Vie and the Crafoord Prize.

Gary W. Barrett is Odum Professor of Ecology at the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia. He received a B.S. in Biology from Oakland City University (1961), a M.S. in Biology from Marquette University (1963), and a Ph.D. in Zoology/Ecology from the University of Georgia (1967). He served as Director of the Institute of Ecology from 1994 through 1996. He was founder of the Institute of Environmental Sciences and the Ecology Research Center at Miami University. He is the author of five books and over 150 publications in major scientific journals and has received 42 grants totaling more than 2 million dollars. He was Ecology Program Director with the National Science Foundation from 1981-1983 and has served on or chaired numerous committees within the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Ecological Society of America, the American Society of Mammalogists, the United States International Association for Landscape Ecology, the International Association for Ecology, and the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. Barrett is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1990). Barrett has served in leadership roles in numerous organizations including the Applied Ecology Section of the Ecological Society of America, American Institute of Biological Sciences, the United States Section of the International Association for Landscape Ecology, and the Association for Ecosystem Research Centers. He received the AIBS Presidential Citation Award in 2000 in recognition of leadership and contributions to the Biological Sciences and the prestigious Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award in 2001 from the United States Section of the International Association for Landscape Ecology.