science · 12 April 1975 · 49 years ago
death
Died 12 Apr 1975 at age 93 (born 2 Jan 1882).
Henry Allan Gleason was an American botanist who was was active with the New York Botanical Garden for 32 years (1918-1950). By age 13, he already was a botany enthusiast. While still in high school, he contributed to The American Naturalist. Early in his career, he travelled to the Philippines, Java and Ceylon to studying tropical vegetation. In 1918, he gave a lecture on his findings, which led to the offer of a permanent position at NYBG, where he developed its South American collection.He was one of the first to consider community ecology. His paper on “The Individualistic Concept of the Plant Association” (1926) concluded that species tended to distribute themselves independently of one another. Eventually, his idea was embraced for the study of vegetation on an ecological and geographical basis. After retirement, he became emeritus head curator.
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