Lawrence B. Slobodkin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lawrence B. Slobodkin
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| Born | June 22, 1928 |
| Died | September 12, 2009 (aged 81) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | Population dynamics in Daphnia obtusa KURZ (1951) |
| Doctoral advisor | G. Evelyn Hutchinson |
Lawrence Basil Slobodkin (born June 22, 1928, died September 12, 2009) was an American scientist who studied ecology. Ecology is the study of how living things interact with each other and their environment. He was a professor at Stony Brook University and helped make ecology a modern science. He connected ecology deeply with the study of evolution, which is how living things change over time.
Contents
About Lawrence Slobodkin
Lawrence Slobodkin was born in 1928 in the Bronx, a part of New York City. His parents, Louis and Florence Slobodkin, greatly influenced him. His mother was a writer. His father was a famous sculptor, illustrator, and writer. He even won an award for his children's book illustrations.
His Education and Early Career
Even though he grew up around art and literature, Slobodkin became very interested in biology. Biology is the study of living things. He first studied at Bethany College (West Virginia). Then, he went to Yale University, where he earned his Ph.D. (a high-level degree) in 1951 when he was just 23 years old. His teacher at Yale was G. Evelyn Hutchinson, a very important ecologist.
After finishing his Ph.D., Slobodkin worked for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for two years. There, he came up with a new idea about why "red tides" happen. Red tides are harmful blooms of algae in the ocean. In 1953, he joined the University of Michigan as a professor. Later, in 1968, he moved to the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Inspiring Others
Slobodkin was also a key teacher and director at a marine ecology course in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Many future important ecologists learned from him there in the 1960s. He was a visiting scholar at several universities in Israel, including Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University. He also received many honors, like being a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Fellow. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2005, he received the Eminent Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society of America. This award is given to scientists who have made outstanding contributions to ecology.
What Did He Study?
Slobodkin's teacher, G. Evelyn Hutchinson, wanted to find big ideas that could explain how all of ecology works. Slobodkin helped build these ideas through his research and teaching. His important book, Growth and Regulation of Animal Populations, was like a guide for many students studying ecology. For his Ph.D., he studied tiny water creatures called Daphnia. He looked at how their age affected the growth of their populations. This showed his way of doing science: testing a mathematical idea with real experiments.
Understanding Ecosystems
At the University of Michigan, Slobodkin started using a method called calorimetry. This method measures heat and energy. He used it to study how efficiently energy moves through ecosystems. An ecosystem is a community of living things and their non-living environment. His work in this area was very important and still influences science today.
He also studied small freshwater animals called hydra. He explored how food and predation (when one animal hunts another) affect how populations grow. He also looked at different ways species interact, from helpful relationships (mutualism) to harmful ones (parasitism).
The "World is Green" Idea
Slobodkin, along with Nelson Hairston Sr. and Frederick Smith, wrote a very famous paper in ecology. It was called "Community structure, population control, and competition." This paper, often called HSS, offered a simple but smart idea about how populations are controlled in land ecosystems.
They wondered why the "world is green." Even though there are many plant-eating animals (herbivores) that eat a lot, there's still plenty of green plant life. They suggested that herbivores don't eat all the plants because their own natural enemies, like predators, parasitoids, and pathogens (germs), keep their numbers in check. This idea was debated a lot, but it inspired much research on how different levels of a food web interact.
Inspiring Students
Larry Slobodkin believed that science was a form of art. He once brought a cat skeleton to class and asked students to first see it as a beautiful sculpture, and only then as an example of how animals adapt. He was known for his quick and clever humor in his talks and teaching. During a lecture, he was talking about how musical talent ran in the Bach family. When loud noises came from outside, he quickly joked, "the janitors here prefer Tchaikovsky!"
Leading a New Department
By 1968, when he moved to the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Slobodkin was a world-renowned ecologist. He started the Department of Ecology and Evolution there. This was one of the first departments of its kind, and it quickly became a top place for studying ecology under his leadership.
At Stony Brook, Slobodkin led the department for five years and directed its graduate program for seven years. He also helped edit The American Naturalist, a science journal. He wrote two more books, including A Citizen's Guide to Ecology. Many of his students went on to become well-known ecologists, environmental scientists, and evolutionary biologists.
His Approach to Science
Slobodkin was an innovative thinker. His ideas laid the groundwork for many topics that are still studied today. His research and writings were full of knowledge and humor. He was known for his ability to explain ideas or share experiences in a very clear and funny way. He could remember poems, Bible stories, old historical facts, or jokes to fit any situation. He was also very open-minded and cared about immigrants and others who might feel left out.
When asked for advice on a science career, Slobodkin said there are three paths. First, become an expert on an organism you love. Second, become very good at the newest and most advanced techniques. The third, and most challenging, path is to avoid doing what everyone else is doing. Instead, you search for new ideas or new ways to test old ideas. Larry Slobodkin bravely chose this third path.
Books and Articles
Here are some of the books and articles Lawrence Slobodkin wrote:
- Books
- 1980. Growth and Regulation of Animal Populations. 2nd enlarged edition. Dover Press.
- 1992. Simplicity and Complexity in Games of the Intellect. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- 1998. Beyond Ecological Awareness. Oxford Univ. Press.
- 2003. A Citizen's Guide to Ecology. Oxford Univ. Press.
- Articles
- 1960. With N. Hairston and Frederick Smith. "Community structure, population control, and competition". In: The American Naturalist. Vol. 94, No. 879, Nov. - Dec., 1960. pp. 421–425
- 1967. With F. E. Smith and N. Hairston sr. "Regulation in terrestrial ecosystems and the implied balance of nature". In: Am. Nat. Vol l0l, pp. l09-l24.
- 1991. With P. Bossert. "The Coelenterates". Chapter 5 in: Ecology and Classification of Freshwater Invertebrates. J.H. Thorpe and A.P. Covich (eds). Academic Press. pp. 125–144.
- 1994. "The connection between single species and ecosystems". In: Water Quality and Stress Indicators: Linking Levels of Organization. D.W. Sutcliffe ed. . Freshwater Biological Association, Ambleside, U.K. pp. 75–87
- 1994. "G. Evelyn Hutchinson, an appreciation". In: J. Animal Ecology. Vol 62: pp. 390–394.
- 1997. With Craig, S.F., G. A. Wray and C. H. Biermann, "The paradox of polyembryony: A review of the cases and a hypothesis for its evolution Evolutionary". In: Ecology, Vol 11, pp. 127–143.
