Mary Talbot (entomologist)

Mary Talbot
A woman with glasses sits at a table with a tray of specimen vials. A bookshelf is behind her.
Talbot in the 1960s
Born(1903-11-30)November 30, 1903
Columbus, Ohio
DiedApril 16, 1990(1990-04-16) (aged 86)
Farmington, Missouri
NationalityAmerican
Scientific career
FieldsEntomology
InstitutionsUniversity of Michigan

Mary Talbot (November 30, 1903 – April 16, 1990) was an American entomologist and zoologist known for her studies of the ecology and behavior of ants. She was a Professor and Chair of Biology at Lindenwood College. She completed her PhD at the University of Chicago under Alfred E. Emerson and studied ants for more than fifty years, predominantly in the Edwin S. George Reserve at the University of Michigan.

Talbot produced dozens of papers about her work on ants that laid the foundation for research exploring important questions in population and community ecology, behavior, and natural history.[1] She identified 90 species of ants in Chicago.[2] In 1951, she started a 26-year research project to study and document populations of ants within the Edwin S. George Reserve.[3] She is commemorated in the scientific names of the ant species Formica talbotae and Monomorium talbotae.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ Talbot, Mary (1943). "Response of the Ant Prenolepis Imparis Say to Temperature and Humidity Changes". Ecology. 24 (3): 345–352. Bibcode:1943Ecol...24..345T. doi:10.2307/1930536. ISSN 1939-9170. JSTOR 1930536.
  2. ^ Moser, Whet. "The Ants in Your House Want to Tell You Something, and Dr. Eleanor Can Translate". Chicago magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  3. ^ "The Natural History of the Ants of Michigan's E.S. George Reserve | U-M LSA Museum of Zoology". lsa.umich.edu. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  4. ^ Kannowski, Paul B. (2012). "A Myrmecologist's Life: An Appreciation of Mary Talbot" (PDF). The Natural History of the Ants of Michigan's E. S. George Reserve. Miscellaneous Publications. Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. pp. 211–215.
  5. ^ Ogilvie, Marilyn; Harvey, Joy (2003). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century. Routledge. p. 561. ISBN 978-1-135-96343-9.


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