{"id":778,"date":"2021-08-09T13:30:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T17:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/2021\/08\/09\/statistics-and-shaking-conventions-dr-evelyn-c-pielou-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-08-09T13:30:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T17:30:54","slug":"statistics-and-shaking-conventions-dr-evelyn-c-pielou-copy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/2021\/08\/09\/statistics-and-shaking-conventions-dr-evelyn-c-pielou-copy\/","title":{"rendered":"Statistics and shaking conventions \u2014 Dr. Evelyn C. Pielou Copy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs an amateur I was beholden to nobody and could follow my inclinations and make my own decisions without the need to justify them to granting agencies, senior academics, or anybody else… \u201d\u00a0 (Pers. Comm. cited in Langenheim 1996)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"ECWhile the name Pielou may not immediately come to mind when considering mammalian reproductive biology, one would be hard-pressed to find an ecologist\u2019s bookshelf devoid of at least one of her statistical books.\u00a0 Such is her contribution that her name is used for a measure of species evenness! Known more commonly as E.C. or \u2018Chris\u2019 Pielou \u2013 Evelyn Chrystalla Pielou was a mathematical and statistical ecologist who made enormous contributions to quantification and understanding of ecology as well as modeling natural systems both past and present.\u00a0 Equally fascinating is Dr. Pielou\u2019s non-traditional life path. Given the huge influence of Pielou on the field of ecology and her uniqueness as a female scientist, she is included here. Pielou not only helped forge a new discipline, but did so as a part-time, self-taught, stay-at-home biologist!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pielou\u2019s contributions are prodigious.\u00a0 She pioneered the field of multivariate statistics in ecological research.\u00a0 On the scholarly end, her books include<\/span>, Introduction to mathematical ecology<\/span><\/i> (1969), <\/span>Population and community ecology: principles and methods<\/span><\/i> (1974), <\/span>Ecological diversity<\/span><\/i> (1975), <\/span>Mathematical Ecology<\/span><\/i> (1977), <\/span>Biogeography<\/span><\/i> (1979), and the iconic (esoteric?) <\/span>Interpretation of ecological data: a primer on classification and ordination<\/span><\/i> (1984).\u00a0 Her writing also includes books for a general audiences such as <\/span>World of northern evergreens<\/span><\/i> (1984), <\/span>After the ice age: the return of life to glaciated North America<\/span><\/i> (1991), <\/span>A naturalist\u2019s guide to the arctic<\/span><\/i> (1994), <\/span>Fresh water<\/span><\/i> (2000), and <\/span>The energy of nature<\/span><\/i> (2001).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pielou was born in England but spent much of her career in Canada.\u00a0 As a young woman she entered the sciences with a certificate in radio-physics (at age 18) and subsequently completed three years of war service as a Navy technical assistant.\u00a0 Eventually she achieved her BS in Botany from the University of London. She published her first paper two years later and raised three children while continuing to publish on statistical ecology.\u00a0 Twelve years after her first publication and without an advisor, in 1962 she concatenated several of her excellent publications into a dissertation and was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of London (a mere formality given her obvious scholarly achievements by this point).\u00a0 She obtained a second Ph.D. in mathematical ecology (Maingon 2016). In 2001, she was also awarded an honorary Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. In her acceptance address, she remarked \u201ca person who blocks out math is a mental couch potato\u201d (Maingon 2016). Pielou did not suffer fools gladly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Impressively, Pielou invented the field of mathematical ecology (Gill 2012).\u00a0 Her <\/span>Introduction to Mathematical Ecology<\/span><\/i> \u201cliterally changed the direction of ecological research\u201d (Bentley 1986:30).\u00a0 She also contemplated macroecology before it was broadly studied. When nearly 40, she took a job as a research statistician for the Canadian Departments of Forestry and Agriculture and began her paid academic career as a full professor at Queen\u2019s University a few years later (1968-1971).\u00a0 Subsequently, she was employed at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1974-1981), and worked until retirement at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta (1981-1986).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1986, she was the second woman to be awarded the Eminent Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society of America (ESA) for forging the field of mathematical ecology.\u00a0 The first was in 1972 given to Ruth Patrick a freshwater wetlands specialist. Pielou did not hesitate to correct mathematical errors, even those of eminent ecologists, as exemplified by her published correction of an error by Robert MacArthur (Pielou, Arnason 1966).\u00a0 He did not seem to appreciate the correction (1966).<\/span><\/p>\n

Pielou retired to Comox Valley, British Columbia, but retirement did not slow her productivity as she continued to write.\u00a0 These later books focused on making complicated subjects accessible to general audiences and include lovely drawings done by Pielou herself.\u00a0 Her books on the arctic and fresh water delve into the workings of the abiotic world. During retirement, Pielou actively worked for conservation issues and was instrumental in having the Clayoquot Sound designated as a United Nations Biosphere Reserve.\u00a0 She also participated in <\/span>arctic expeditions and served as a scientific advisor for ecotourism.\u00a0 In her honor, ESA has a graduate student award for Statistical Ecology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo is with permission of the Comox Valley Naturalists from a 2011 walk at the Goose Spit at the mouth of the Comox Bay during which Dr. Pielou expounded on the post-glacial history of the estuary (Loys Maingon, pers comm).<\/span><\/p>\n

References:<\/span><\/p>\n

Bentley, B.\u00a0 1986. Eminent ecologist, E.C. Pielou.\u00a0 <\/span>Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 68:30-31.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gill, J.<\/span>\u00a0 2012.\u00a0 Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Honoring Dr. Evelyn Chrystalla Pielou.\u00a0 <\/span>https:\/\/contemplativemammoth.com\/2012\/10\/16\/happy-ada-lovelace-day-honoring-dr-evelyn-chrystalla-pielou\/<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Accessed 10 August 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

Langenheim, J. H.\u00a0 1996. Early history and progress of women ecologists: Emphasis upon research contributions.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 27:1-53.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maingon, L.\u00a0 2016. Comox Valley loses a tiny giant of an environmentalist. \u00a0 <\/span>http:\/\/tidechange.ca\/2016\/07\/20\/comox-valley-loses-tiny-giant-environmentalist\/<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Accessed 10 August 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pielou, E.C., A.N. Arnason.\u00a0 1966. Correction to one of MacArthur\u2019s species-abundance formulas.\u00a0 Science 151:592.<\/span><\/p>\n

MacArthur, R.\u00a0 1966. Note on Mrs. Pielou’s Comments.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Ecology<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>47:1074.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Text from\u00a0Reproduction in Mammals: The Female<\/em> Perspective,\u00a0<\/em>Hayssen and Orr 2017)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs an amateur I was beholden to nobody and could follow my inclinations and make my own decisions without the need to justify them to granting agencies, senior academics, or anybody else… \u201d\u00a0 (Pers. Comm. cited in Langenheim 1996) \u00a0 While the name Pielou may not immediately come to mind when considering mammalian reproductive biology,… Read More Statistics and shaking conventions \u2014 Dr. Evelyn C. Pielou Copy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3877,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-female-scientists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/reproduction-a-female-perspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}