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UChicago Trivia: UChicago botanist Henry Chandler Cowles developed what concept by studying Lake Michigan dunes in the late 1890s?

April 9, 2025By University Communications
A new plant poking up from the soil
 

UCHICAGO TRIVIA

Today's Question:

UChicago botanist Henry Chandler Cowles developed what concept by studying Lake Michigan dunes in the late 1890s?

a) symbiotic nitrogen fixation
b) soil aeration
c) morphological adaptation
d) ecological succession

Answer:

d) ecological succession

UChicago botanist Henry Chandler Cowles developed the concept of ecological succession by studying Lake Michigan dunes in the late 1890s. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Cowles recognized the natural landscape as constantly changing and evolving. His dissertation, "An Ecological Study of the Sand Dune Flora of Northern Indiana" (1898), marked the beginning of ecology as a field, shifting botanical research from mere classification to studying the dynamic theoretical relationships between plants and their environments. Cowles continued to pioneer the field of ecology from his graduate days at the University of Chicago until his retirement in 1934.