Marston Bates (July 23, 1906 – April 3, 1974) was an American

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

and environmental author. Bates' studies on

mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

es contributed to the understanding of the

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

in northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. Born in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, Bates received a BS in Biology from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in 1927. From 1928-1931, he worked as an entomologist for the United Fruit Company in Central America. He received a PhD in Zoology in 1934 from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He worked for the Rockefeller Foundation from 1935-1952, studying mosquito ecology, malaria, yellow fever, and human population. He lived for many years in

Villavicencio Villavicencio () is a city and municipality in Colombia. Capital of Meta Department, it was founded on April 6, 1840. The city had an urban population of approximately 531,275 inhabitants in 2018.https://www.dane.gov.co/files/varios/informacio ...

between the mountains and the llanos in central Colombia. He served as special assistant to the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, 1950-1952. From 1952 until 1971 he was a professor at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. During that time, he also served as member of the National Research Council's expedition to the Ifalik Atoll in the South Pacific (1953), director of research at the University of Puerto Rico (1956-1957), and member of the Committee on Biological and Medical Sciences of the National Science Foundation (1952-1958). He was a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America in 1940 and an elected 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 ...

in 1958. He was the author of many popular science books. He was married to Nancy Bell Fairchild, daughter of the botanist

David Fairchild David Grandison Fairchild (April 7, 1869 – August 6, 1954) was an American botanist and plant explorer. Fairchild was responsible for the introduction of more than 200,000 exotic plants and varieties of established crops into the United State ...

and granddaughter of Alexander Graham Bell. In 1960, he published the ecological science book ''The Forest and the Sea'', an introduction to how ecosystems work. He compares a rain forest and a tropical sea, their similarities and differences, and through it demonstrates how to understand biological systems.

Books

*''Insectos Nocivos: Estudio de Las Principales Plagas Guatemaltecas'' (1932) Ciudad de Guatemala: Anuario del Servicio técnico de cooperación agrícola. *“The Butterflies of Cuba.” (1935) ''Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology'' 78 (2): 65–258. *''The Natural History of Mosquitoes'' (1949) MacMillan; New York *''The Nature of Natural History'' (1950) Charles Scribner's Sons; New York; 309 pp. *''Where Winter Never Comes: A Study of Man and Nature in the Tropics'' (1952) Charles Scribner's Sons; New York *''The Prevalence of People'' (1955) Charles Scribner's Sons; New York. *Thomas Jr., William L., Carl O. Sauer, Marston Bates, and Lewis Mumford, eds. ''Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth'' (1956) University of Chicago Press. *Bates, Marston, and Philip S. Humphrey. ''Darwin Reader'' (1956) Scribner. *Bates, Marston, and Donald Putnam Abbott. ''Coral Island: Portrait of an Atoll'' (1958) Scribner. *Bates, Marston, and Donald Putnam Abbott. ''Ifaluk: Portrait of a Coral Island'' (1959) Museum Press. *''The Forest and the Sea: A Look at the Economy of Nature and the Ecology of Man.'' (1960) Random House (1988) Lyons *''Man in Nature'' (1961) Prentice-Hall. *Bates, Marston, C. Haven Kolb, and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, American Institute of Biological Sciences. ''High School Biology: BSCS Green Version'' (1963) Rand McNally & Company. *''Animal Worlds'' (1963) Random House. *''The Land and Wildlife of South America'' (1964) part of the Life Nature Library series *''Gluttons and Libertines: Human Problems of Being Natural'' (1968) Random House *''A Jungle in the House: Essays in Natural and Unnatural History'' (1970) Walker and CompanyReviewed at:

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Bates, Nancy Bell. ''East of the Andes and West of Nowhere''. (1947). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. *Harmond, Richard. "Bates, Marston". (February 2000). American National Biography Online. 1906 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American zoologists American entomologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni People from Michigan University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni University of Michigan faculty Fellows of the Entomological Society of America {{US-entomologist-stub