William H. Schlesinger (born April 30, 1950) is a biogeochemist and the retired president of the Cary

Institute of Ecosystem Studies Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies (Cary Institute), formerly known as the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, is an independent, not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to the scientific study of the world's ecosystems and the na ...

, an independent not-for-profit environmental research organization in Millbrook, New York. He assumed that position after 27 years on the faculty of Duke University, where he served as the Dean of the

Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences The Nicholas School of the Environment is one of ten graduate and professional schools at Duke University and is headquartered on Duke’s main campus in Durham, N.C. A secondary coastal facility, Duke University Marine Laboratory, is maintaine ...

and James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry.

Education, career, and honors

Schlesinger began his college education at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

where he received his

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

in 1972. He earned his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

and Systematics in 1976. Schlesinger’s teaching career began at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

where he was an assistant professor of biology for four years. Afterwards, he moved to Duke University, becoming a full professor and teaching for over 20 years. In 2001, Schlesinger was promoted as the Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University. Schlesinger retired as the dean on June 1, 2007, when he became the president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Schlesinger was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2003 and was President of the

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

from 2003 to 2004. He is also a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...

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 responsi ...

(AAAS), The

, and the

Soil Science Society of America The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), is the largest soil-specific society in the United States. It was formed in 1936 from the merger of the Soils Section of the American Society of Agronomy and the American Soil Survey Association. The So ...

. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the

Southern Environmental Law Center Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is the largest 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit organization in the Southern region, with more than 80 attorneys and 75 staff members working at the local, state, and federal level ...

, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Currently he also serves on the Science Advisory Board (SAB) for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Scientific Outreach

Schlesinger has testified before U.S. House and Senate Committees on the importance of habitat preservation and the impacts of air pollution and climate change on humans and the natural environment. In addition to his 200+ scientific publications, he has authored more than 100 editorials and features on environmental subjects, appearing in the ''Los Angeles Times'', the ''Chicago Tribune'', the ''Albany Times Union'', and the ''Raleigh News and Observer''.

Contributions to biogeochemistry

Schlesinger has a long research career studying the circulation of the chemical elements in natural ecosystems—now widely known as biogeochemistry. Most of his work has focused on soils, especially on the carbon stored in soils, which contain a major pool in the global carbon cycle. His early work provided estimates of the storage of organic carbon (humus) and inorganic carbon (largely calcium carbonate) in soils, losses of soil carbon to runoff, changes in soil carbon with conversion of land to agriculture, and accumulations of carbon during soil development. More recently, he has examined changes in soil processes and soil carbon storage that accompany plant growth at elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, as simulated in the Duke Forest Free-Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) experiment. His work also evaluates recommendations for

carbon sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. Carbon dioxide () is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, and physical processes. These changes can be accelerated through changes in lan ...

as a means to control the accumulation of CO₂ in Earth’s atmosphere and to mitigate the potential for

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. In addition to studies of soil carbon, Schlesinger has provided global budgets summarizing the sources of atmospheric ammonia, the fate of human-derived nitrogen on land, and the global boron cycle. He has shown that biology leaves its imprint on global geochemical cycles, and that earth system function cannot be fully understood without considering the impacts of biology. His approach, philosophy, and much of his other work is summarized in a textbook, ''Biogeochemistry: an analysis of global change'' in its third edition and coauthored with Emily S. Bernhardt of Duke University, available through Academic Press/Elsevier, San Diego.

Work with desert ecosystems, 1991-2006

Schlesinger served as the co-

principal investigator In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...

for the Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) located in the

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...

in southern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

. Research projects mainly focus on inorganic fluxes, including studies of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous wa ...

volatilization from soils,

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

natural runoff plots and transect soil water content. He has also worked extensively in

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

ecosystems and landscapes, studying responses to resource redistribution and global change, which can lead to

soil degradation Soil retrogression and degradation are two regressive evolution processes associated with the loss of equilibrium of a stable soil. Retrogression is primarily due to soil erosion and corresponds to a phenomenon where succession reverts the land to ...

and regional desertification. Schlesinger postulated that the patchy distribution of vegetation in desert regions controls many aspects of soil fertility and the response of deserts to overgrazing and climate change.

Forest-atmosphere carbon transfer and storage, 1996-1999

Schlesinger was the co-principal investigator for the Free Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) Experiment in the Duke Forest. The object of the study was to investigate the efficacy of carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems (vegetation and soil) in response to elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentration, as a means to mitigate the potential for global warming. During this decade-long experiment, Schlesinger and John Lichter (Bowdoin College) found only small changes in soil carbon content, suggesting that enhanced carbon storage in soils is unlikely to play a major role in slowing the growth of atmospheric CO₂ and the magnitude of global climate change. Much larger changes were seen in the growth rate of trees, but even those were unlikely to sequester a significant increment of carbon worldwide as a result of rising CO₂ in Earth’s atmosphere.

Work at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, 2007-2014

When he was appointed President of the Cary Institute in Millbrook, NY., Schlesinger expanded its existing science program with the hiring of three new scientists and establishing strong programs for the translation of science to the public. The Cary Institute’s Friday-Night-at-Cary Lecture series and its daily program, Earth Wise, on WAMC Northeast Public Radio were widely followed for their presentations of science for the general public.

References

*Schlesinger, W. H., Better Living Through Biogeochemistry, ''Ecology'', 85(9), 2004, pp. 2402–2407 *Schlesinger, W. H. and Bernhardt, E.S., ''Biogeochemistry, An Analysis of Global change'', Academic Press, 3rd ed., 2013, pp. 159–163 *Schlesinger, W. H., Lichter, J., 2001. Limited carbon storage in soil and litter of experimental forest plots under increased atmospheric CO₂. ''Nature'' 411, 466-469. *Schlesinger, W.H. 2006. Global change ecology. ''Trends in Ecology and Evolution'' (TREE) 21: 348-351. *Schlesinger, W.H. 2009. On the fate of anthropogenic nitrogen. ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences''. 106:203-208 {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlesinger, Wiliam 1950 births Dartmouth College alumni Living people Systems ecologists American systems scientists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Biogeochemists American ecologists Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Duke University faculty Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Ecological Society of America