JoAnn Burkholder

JoAnn Marie Burkholder (born 1953) is an American professor of aquatic ecology at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh. She was responsible for identifying the cause, a dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida and its toxins, of mass deaths of fish that posed a public health hazard. Her studies also helped in improving legislation to control pollution and eutrophication.

Early life

Burkholder was born in 1953 in Rockford, Illinois.

Education

Burkholder received a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University in 1975 followed by an MS from University of Rhode Island (1981) and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1986.

Career

Burkholder investigated fish deaths in a laboratory and found that the cause of that and deaths in North Carolina rivers were due to a dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida which was normally found in the bottom sediment where they feed on organic debris normally but infect fish during migrator runs. The toxins from the dinoflagellate also affect humans, causing skin irritation, breathing difficulties and memory loss. The fish-killing forms of Pfiesteria tended to be associated with high nutrient flows into waters from agricultural and urban waste. The identity of the organism causing the fish kill and the circumstances under which it occurs led to a big public debate as well as within the biological community and was the subject of a book And the Waters Turned to Blood (1997) by Rodney Barker.[1][2] Her research led to improvements in laws to control non-point pollution.[3][4][5]

Burkholder received the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1998.

References
  1. Mann, Charles C. (April 27, 1997). "Books: Wet and Nasty". New York Times.
  2. Burkholder, JoAnn M.; Glasgow, Howard B. (2001). "History of Toxic Pfiesteria in North Carolina Estuaries from 1991 to the Present". BioScience. 51 (10): 827. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0827:hotpin]2.0.co;2. ISSN 0006-3568.
  3. Broad, William J. (March 27, 1997). "In a Sealed Lab, A Warrior Against Pollution". New York Times.
  4. Burkholder, Joann M; Glasgow, Howard B (1999). "Science Ethics and its Role in Early Suppression of the Pfiesteria Issue". Human Organization. 58 (4): 443–455. doi:10.17730/humo.58.4.976098q356672751. JSTOR 44127660.
  5. Burkholder, Joann M.; Glasgow, Howard B.; Deamer-Mella, Nora (2001). "Overview and present status of the toxic Pfiesteria complex (Dinophyceae)". Phycologia. 40 (3): 186–214. doi:10.2216/i0031-8884-40-3-186.1. ISSN 0031-8884.
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