JoAnn Marie Burkholder (born 1953) is an American professor of

aquatic ecology An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The tw ...

at the

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

, Raleigh. She was responsible for identifying the cause, a dinoflagellate ''Pfiesteria piscicida'' and its toxins, of mass deaths of fish that posed a public health hazard. Her studies also helped in improving legislation to control pollution and eutrophication.

Early life

Burkholder was born in 1953 in Rockford, Illinois.

Education

Burkholder received a bachelor's degree from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

in 1975 followed by an MS from

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

(1981) and a Ph.D. from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in 1986.

Career

Burkholder investigated fish deaths in a laboratory and found that the cause of that and deaths in North Carolina rivers were due to a dinoflagellate ''

Pfiesteria piscicida ''Pfiesteria piscicida'' is a dinoflagellate species of the genus '' Pfiesteria'' that some researchers claim is responsible for many harmful algal blooms in the 1980s and 1990s on the coast of North Carolina and Maryland. North Carolinian media ...

'' which was normally found in the bottom sediment where they feed on organic debris normally but infect fish during migrator runs. The toxins from the dinoflagellate also affect humans, causing skin irritation, breathing difficulties and memory loss. The fish-killing forms of ''Pfiesteria'' tended to be associated with high nutrient flows into waters from agricultural and urban waste. The identity of the organism causing the fish kill and the circumstances under which it occurs led to a big public debate as well as within the biological community and was the subject of a book ''And the Waters Turned to Blood'' (1997) by Rodney Barker. Her research led to improvements in laws to control non-point pollution. Burkholder received the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 1998.

References

External links

The Cell from Hell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkholder, JoAnn Marie 1953 births Iowa State University alumni American limnologists North Carolina State University faculty Women ecologists Living people Women limnologists