Emily Stanley is an American professor of limnology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She was named a 2018 Ecological Society of America Fellow and her research focuses on the ecology of freshwater ecosystems.

Early life and education

Emily Stanley was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to parents Frank and Elizabeth. She has three siblings: Jonathan, Elizabeth, and James. Emily Stanley received her B.S. in biology at Yale University in 1984, her M.S. in biology at Southwest Texas State University in 1986, and her Ph.D. in zoology at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

in 1993. Her Ph.D. advisor was Stuart Fisher, a professor emeritus at the School of Life Sciences at

Career and research

After completing her Ph.D., Stanley worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Alabama for two years, then was associate professor at Oklahoma State University in the zoology department for three years. In 1998 she became associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology and Department of Integrative Biology. In 2010, she was promoted to Full Professor. Stanley's research focuses on limnology, as well as river and stream ecosystem ecology. Her Ph.D. thesis studied a stream in the Arizona Sonoran Desert to determine how the different parts of the streams dried during warmer months, and it was determined that when each part of the stream ecosystem shrinks and expands, the

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

as a whole fluctuates in size. According to her paper, this research could help predict how drying patterns cause changes in ecosystems, and knowing that stream ecosystems change over space and time can also be used to predict how streams could change due to climate change. Other research of hers includes studying the effects of dam removal on ecosystems and predicting how best to manage the consequences. She has also researched how different factors such as hydrology, biochemistry,

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

, and human land-use alter lakes and rivers. Changes in freshwater ecosystems, according to her research, can affect services humans get from these ecosystems, such as drinking water. Emily Stanley has also studied riparian zones, which are the areas between rivers and land, and how human impacts can change these ecosystems. In addition, she has studied hyporheic zones, areas where

surface water Surface water is water located on top of land forming terrestrial (inland) waterbodies, and may also be referred to as ''blue water'', opposed to the seawater and waterbodies like the ocean. The vast majority of surface water is produced by prec ...

mixes with groundwater, and researched how water and nutrients are exchanged between the two.

Awards and honors

*2003-2005 – University of Wisconsin Vilas Associate Award *2003-2008 – University of Wisconsin Vilas Associate Award *2006 – Aldo Leopold Leadership Program *2008 – University of Wisconsin Romnes Faculty Fellowship Award *2015 – University of Wisconsin Kellett Mid-Career Faculty Researcher Award *2018 – Fellow of the Society for Freshwater Science *2018 – ASLO

G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award The G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award is an award granted annually by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography to a mid-career scientist for work accomplished during the preceding 5–10 years for excellence in any aspect of limnology ...

*2018 – Fellow of the Ecological Society of America

Notable publications

1997: "Ecosystem expansion and contraction in streams," ''BioScience'' 1998: "The functional significance of the hyporheic zone in streams and rivers," ''Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics'' 2002: "Landscape indicators of human impacts to riverine systems," ''Aquatic Sciences'' 2003: "Trading off: the ecological effects of dam removal," ''Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment'' 2011: "State of the world's freshwater ecosystems: physical, chemical, and biological changes," ''Annual Review of Environment and Resources''

References

External links

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Emily Stanley
on University of Wisconsin–Madison website {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Emily 1960s births Living people American women biologists American zoologists Arizona State University alumni Texas State University alumni Yale University alumni Oklahoma State University faculty University of Alabama faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Fellows of the Ecological Society of America People from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) Women limnologists American limnologists American women academics 21st-century American women