Edmund C. Jaeger

Edmund Carroll Jaeger, D.Sc.,
University of California, Riverside, Science Library
(January 28, 1887 – August 2, 1983) was an American biologist known for his works on desert ecology. He was born in Loup City, Nebraska to Katherine (née Gunther) and John Philip Jaeger, and moved to Riverside, California in 1906 with his family. He was the first to document, in ''The Condor'', a state of extended torpor, approaching hibernation, in a bird, the common poorwill. He also described this in the ''National Geographic Magazine''.

Life

Jaeger first attended the newly relocated Occidental College in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles (in 1914), but moved to Palm Springs in 1915, where he taught at the one-room schoolhouse. At Palm Springs he met artist Carl Eytel,
here for Table of Contents
) and authors J. Smeaton Chase and Charles Francis Saunders. These men formed what University of Arizona Professor Peter Wild called a "Creative Brotherhood" that lived in Palm Springs in the early 20th century. Other Brotherhood members included cartoonist and painter Jimmy Swinnerton, author George Wharton James, and photographers Fred Payne Clatworthy and Stephen H. Willard. The men lived near each other (like Jaeger, Eytel built his own cabin), traveled together throughout the Southwest, helped with each other's works, and exchanged photographs which appeared in their various books. He then returned to Occidental to complete his degree in 1918 and started teaching at Riverside Junior College. Retiring from teaching after 30 years, he worked the Riverside Municipal Museum in Riverside. During all these years Jaeger used his Palm Springs cabin for his research trips across the desert. Throughout his career he wrote many popular nature books and became known as the "dean of the California deserts".

Works

Books

:(Listed in order of first publication.)
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* (Samuel Stillman Berry and Malcom Jennings Rogers contributed chapters)
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* (illustrations by Merle Gish and the author)
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* (Irvine H. Page was a co-author)
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* (Peveril Meigs contributed a chapter; illustrations by John D. Briggs, Lloyd Mason Smith, Morris Van Dame, and Jaeger )
* (illustrations by Morris Van Dame and Jaeger)
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* (Arthur Clayton Smith was a co-author; illustrations by Gene M. Christman)

Articles

Jaeger contributed to over 25 magazines and journals including:

* '' The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald''
* ''The Auk''
* ''Cactus and Succulent Journal''
* ''Calico Print''
* ''The Condor''
* ''Desert Magazine''
* ''Fremontia''
* ''Journal of Mammalogy''
* ''National Geographic Magazine''
* ''Pacific Union Recorder''
* '' St. Nicholas Magazine''
* ''The Youth's Instructor''

History of Palm Springs

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Archives of Jaeger's work

* Much of Jaeger's original work is archived at the University of California, Riverside, Library Special Collections.
* Also see: (Summary: biographical material, list of publications, newspapers articles and correspondence of Edmund C. Jaeger, Head of the Zoology Dept. at Riverside City College. 358 items in one box)

Honors

* The "Edmund C. Jaeger Desert Institute" on the Moreno Valley College (MVC) of the Riverside Community College District is named in his honor. MCV also offers an "Edmund C. Jaeger Endowed Scholarship".
* In 1986 The Nature Conservancy completed development of the "Edmund C. Jaeger Nature Sanctuary" in the Chuckwalla Mountains near Desert Center, California. It was in the Chuckwalla Mountains that Jaeger discovered the poorwill, and after his death in 1983, his cremated remains were scattered in the same canyon.
* The University of La Verne of La Verne, California, Cultural and Natural History Collections (formerly the Jaeger Museum), maintains personal and professional materials pertaining to the life of Edmund C. Jaeger, including his 1947 field notes recording his initial study of the common poorwill in hibernation. The Collections is located inside the Jaeger House, named in his honor.
* Pacific Union College of Angwin, California, annually presents an "Edmund C. Jaeger Award" in biology and "Dr. Edmund C. Jaeger Scholarship Grant" in education to deserving students.
* Designated as a Fellow of the California Native Plant Society in 1976.
* Received the Auld Lang Syne Award from Occidental College in 1982.

Patronyms

Some 28 patronyms of Jaeger have been made, including:

* ''Angiospermae'' (flowering plants)
** ''Monocotyledon'' (single cotyledon (seed-leaf))
*** ''Yucca brevifolia'' – subspecies ''jaegeriana'' (the Jaeger Joshua tree)
** ''Dicotyledons'' (two cotyledons (seed-leaves))
*** '' Astragalus jaegerianus'' (Lane Mountain milkvetch)
*** '' Astragalus pachypus'' – variety ''jaegeri'' (Jaeger's bush milkvetch)
*** '' Caulostramina jaegeri'' – synonyms: ''Thelypodium jaegeri'' and ''Hesperidanthus jaegeri'' (cliffdweller)
*** ''Draba jaegeri'' (a variety of whitlow-grass)
*** ''Eriogonum nodosum'' – variety ''jaegeri'' (wild buckwheat)
*** '' Eriogonum plumatella'' – variety ''jaegeri'' (yucca buckwheat)
*** ''Euphorbia jaegeri'' (Orocopia Mountain spurge)V.W. Steinmann & J. André, Aliso 30(1): 1. (2012)
*** ''Gilia jaegeri'' (gilia)
*** ''Helianthus jaegeri'' – synonym ''Helianthus annuus'' – subspecies ''jaegeri'' (sunflower)
*** '' Ivesia jaegeri'' (Jaeger's mousetail or Jaeger's ivesia)
*** ''Lupinus jaegerianus'' (lupin or lupines)
*** '' Penstemon thompsoniae'' – subspecies ''jaegeri'' (Jaeger's beardtongue)
*** ''Phacelia perityloides'' – subspecies ''jaegeri'' (Panamint Phacelia)
*** ''Potentilla jaegeri'' (a typical cinquefoil)
*** ''Ribes nevadense'' – variety ''jaegeri'' (Sierra currant and mountain pink currant)
*** ''Sisymbrium diffusus'' – subspecies ''jaegeri'' (mustard family)

* ''Insecta''
** ''Hemiptera'' (true bugs)
*** '' Nidicola jaegeri'' (minute pirate bugs or flower bugs)
*** ''Triatoma rubida jaegeri'' (a type of assassin bug)
** ''Lepidoptera'' (moths and butterflies)
*** '' Schinia jaegeri'' – synonym ''Chlorocleptria jaegeri'' (moth)
** ''Diplopoda'' (millipedes)
*** ''Gosichelus jaegeri''
*** ''Onychelus jaegeri''
* ''Mollusca''
** ''Pulmonata'' (land snails)
*** '' Helminthoglypta jaegeri''
*** '' Oreohelix handi jaegeri''

File:Ivesia jaegeri 6.jpg, ''Ivesia jaergi'' (Jaeger's mousetail or Jaeger's ivesia)
File:Caulostraminajaegeri.jpg, ''Caulostramina jaegeri'' (cliffdweller)
File:Astragalusjaegerianus.jpg, ''Astragalus jaegerianus'' (Lane Mountain milkvetch)
File:Penstemon thompsoniae ssp jaegeri 8.jpg, ''Penstemon thomsoniae'' subspecies ''jaegeri'' (Jaeger's beardtongue)
File:Draba jaegeri 2.jpg, ''Draba jaegeri'' (variety of whitlow-grass in seed)

References

Further reading

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* (Photography by Walter Meayers Edwards; foreword by Jaeger)
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External links

Edmund Jaeger site

Riverside (California) Metropolitan Museum
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Edmund C Jaeger Nature Sanctuary USGS Desert Center Quad, California, Topographic Map
at TopoZone
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaeger, Edmund
American ecologists
American naturalists
American nature writers
American male non-fiction writers
American science writers
Writers from Los Angeles
People from Loup City, Nebraska
Writers from Palm Springs, California
Writers from Riverside, California
Writers from Nebraska
1887 births
1983 deaths
20th-century naturalists