Diana Wall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Diana Harrison Wall (1943-12-27)December 27, 1943 Durham, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | March 25, 2024(2024-03-25) (aged 80) |
| Alma mater | University of Kentucky |
| Awards | SCAR medal (2012) Tyler Prize (2013) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Soil ecology Environmental science |
| Institutions | Colorado State University |
| Website | walllab.colostate.edu/ |
Diana Harrison Wall (December 27, 1943 – March 25, 2024) was an Americanenvironmental scientist andsoil ecologist. She was the founding director of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability,[1] a distinguished biology professor, and senior research scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory atColorado State University. Wall investigated ecosystem processes,soil biodiversity andecosystem services. Her research focused on theAntarcticMcMurdo Dry Valleys and itsWall Valley was named after her. Wall was a globally recognized leader and speaker onlife in Antarctica andclimate change.[2][3][4]
Diana Wall was born on December 27, 1943,[5] inDurham, North Carolina.[6][7] Her formative years were spent inLexington, Kentucky, where she graduated fromLafayette High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology from theUniversity of Kentucky in 1965.[6] Her interest innematodes began during her undergraduate studies when she worked on nematode parasites in horses and birds. She completed her PhD inplant pathology from the University of Kentucky in 1971.[8]
Wall began work as a postdoctoral researcher atUniversity of California-Riverside in 1972 where she researched the function and biological diversity of soil ecosystems.[8] In 1976 she began work in the Department of Nematology as an Assistant ResearchNematologist. She continued to work at UC Riverside for a further seventeen years before becoming a Professor in the Department of Nematology. Throughout this period, she was the Associate Director of the Drylands Research Institute from 1986 to 1988 and the Associate Program Director of theNational Science Foundation in Washington, DC, from 1988 to 1989.[9]
Wall began working atColorado State University in 1993. At this time, she became a Professor in the Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship (until 2006), the Associate Dean for Research in the Natural Resources College (until 2000) and the Director of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (until 2005).[8] Wall became a Professor in the Department of Biology at CSU in 2006 and was key in establishing the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at CSU in 2008.[10]
Wall began working in Antarctica'sDry Valleys in 1989.[11] She conducted long-term soil ecology research in the region, drawing links between soil process and diversity to environmental conditions. Wall played a key role in pioneering the study and measurement ofanhydrobiosis, which is how nematodes cope physiologically with dry and hot temperatures.[12] Specifically, she found thatScottnema lindsayae play a big role in the carbon cycle in the valleys.[7] She described invertebrate soil communities in the Dry Valleys ofVictoria Land and devised some of the first models of habitat suitability for specific invertebrate species in the Dry Valleys, which increased our understanding of their susceptibility to environmental change and their roles in biogeochemical processes.[13][12]
Wall served as president of theAmerican Institute of Biological Sciences, theEcological Society of America,[14] the Association of Ecosystem Research Centers, and the Society of Nematologists. Wall also served as the Chair of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents in 2003 and in 2011 was appointed the Chair of theGlobal Soil Biodiversity Initiative.[15][7] She was elected a member of theNational Academy of Sciences in 2018.[16]
Wall received the 2012 Mines Medal from theSouth Dakota School of Mines and Technology,[17] theScientific Committee for Antarctic Research President's Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research,[18][19] and the Soil Ecology Society Professional Achievement Award.[9]
Wall was named a Fellow of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program in 1999. She was selected as the 2012 Tansley Lecturer of theBritish Ecological Society.[3][20] She was one of the inaugural Fellows of theEcological Society of America in 2012.[21]
Wall was awarded theTyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 2013[8] and was inducted into theColorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2014.[22][23] She was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences[24] and named aFellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014.[24] Wall was awardedUniversity College Dublin's highest honour, the Ulysses Medal, in 2015.[4]
Wall Valley in theMcMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica was named for her due to her extensive research onsoil biology, including spending 13 field seasons there at the time of the naming.[25][26]
Wall chaired the DIVERSITAS-International Biodiversity Observation (2001–2002) and the Global Litter Invertebrate Decomposition Experiment.[27] She also co-chaired the Millennium Development Goals Committee of theMillennium Ecosystem Assessment and the AAAS panel for the What We Know initiative from 2013 to 2014.[28] Wall was a member of one of thePresident's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) working groups and a member of theUNESCO International Hydrological Program US National Committee. She was a board member of theIsland Press and theWorld Resources Institute.[23]
Wall died on March 25, 2024.[11][29][12]
An upland valley next E of Priscu Valley in Olympus Range; Minotaur Pass is at the head between Apollo Peak and Mount Electra. The valley opens N to McKelvey Valley. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) (2004) after Diana Wall, Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; U.S. Antarctic Project (USAP) soils biologist in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, 13 field seasons, 1989–2002.
