Peter Chesson

Wonder Makes Me Unify Nature

Peter Chesson's pioneering studies on the impact of environmental variability introduced a paradigm change into ecological thinking, according to board materials. Chesson has established a classification of coexistence mechanisms that has had profound effect on environmental issues and the management of natural populations. Peers and other researchers from around the world consider Chesson one of the most influential theorists and original thinkers of his era.

Chesson tests his ideas in the field, collaborating with experimentalists. His work has stimulated many first-rate experimentalists to explore his theory and, as a result, it has had very broad effect on the field. His seminal and highly influential 2000 review article in the Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics has received more than 4,000 citations. HisTrends in Ecology and Evolution paper from 2002has been cited more than 2,000 times. As a result of his close connection with experiments and fieldwork, he has maintained a laboratory, the Chesson Lab, which has been home to a generation of young and diverse colleagues, from graduate students to postdoctoral fellows.

Chesson has served the Tucson community as a member of the Pima County Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission and as president of the Tucson Mountains Association, where his expertise in ecology has played an important role in regional land-use decisions.