| William J. Mitsch, Ph.D. | |
|---|---|
| Fields | wetland ecology and biogeochemistry; wetland and river restoration; ecological engineering; systems ecology |
| Institutions | Olentangy River Wetland Research Park The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio, USA |
| Notable awards | National Wetland Award, U.S. EPA and Environmental Law Institute (1996); Odum Lecturer, University of Georgia (1998); Stockholm Water Prize (2004); Theodore M. Sperry Award, Society for Ecological Restoration International (for a career in ecosystem restoration, 2005); Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Wetland Scientists (2007) |
William Mitsch, born March 29, 1947 in Wheeling, West Virginia USA, is an ecosystem ecologist and ecological engineer who was co-laureate of the 2004 Stockholm Water Prize in August 2004 as a result of a career in wetland ecology and restoration, ecological engineering, and ecological modelling.
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Mitsch graduated from Wheeling Central Catholic High School in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1965 and University of Notre Dame in 1969 where he majored in mechanical engineering. He then worked for two years in the power industry—for American Electric Power in Ohio and for Commonwealth Edison in Chicago. It was at the latter utility that he became part of their then-new environmental planning staff in 1970, being influenced by the first Earth Day in May 1970. He then went to the University of Florida in Gainesville and received an M.E. degree (1972) and Ph.D. (1975) in environmental engineering sciences. In his Ph.D. program he transitioned to become more of an ecologist, studying wetlands and lakes in Florida under Professor H.T. Odum. Prior to arriving at The Ohio State University in 1986, he was on the faculties at Illinois Institute of Technology (1975–79) and University of Louisville (1979–85).
His most significant contributions are 1. development of the field of ecological engineering as an author of the first book on this subject and the founder (in 1992) and editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Ecological Engineering,[1] 2. creation of the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, a unique 20-hectare (50-acre) wetland research laboratory and now Ramsar Wetland of International Importance at The Ohio State University , 3. major contributions toward the development of the field of wetland ecology, particularly as first author of four editions of the standard textbook Wetlands,[2] a book used around the world use to teach wetland ecology. That book has educated several generations of wetland scientists since it was first introduced in 1986. Dr. Mitsch's recent wetland research has emphasized wetlands for nutrient removal in the agricultural Mississippi-Ohio-Missouri (MOM) River Basin (Mitsch et al. 2001) [3] and the importance of wetlands in climate change (Mitsch et al. 2009).[4]
Mitsch is currently Distinguished Professor of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University and Director of the University’s Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park.[5] His research and teaching has focused on wetland biogeochemistry, wetland creation and restoration, ecological engineering, and ecosystem modeling. Dr. Mitsch has authored or co-authored over 400 papers, books, and other publications in ecological and environmental science. He is co-author of 16 books including senior author of Ecological Engineering (1989), Ecological Engineering and Ecosystem Restoration (2004), 4 editions of Wetlands (1986–2007), and Wetland Ecosystems (2009).
Mitsch has served on the Science Advisory Board (SAB) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2001–2007) and on several United States National Research Council (NRC) committees of the National Academy of Sciences (1991–2004).
His international activity includes serving as a Fulbright Senior Specialist, Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre, University of Botswana (2007) and Fulbright Fellow, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (1986–1987) and an advisor/researcher for East China Normal University, China; United Nations Environmental Programme, Egypt and Jordan; EARTH University, Costa Rica; IAMZ (Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza), Spain; SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment), Paris, France; and MISTRA (Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research), Sweden, among other locations.
Among his awards, Mitsch and his frequent colleague and co-author Sven Jørgensen of Denmark received the 2004 Stockholm Water Prize[6] from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on August 19, 2004 in Stockholm, Sweden. He also received the National Wetland Research Award (1996) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environmental Law Institute, the Theodore M. Sperry Award (2005)[7] for a career in ecosystem restoration from the Society for Ecological Restoration, and a SWS Lifetime Achievement Award (2007)[8] from the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS). His Olentangy River Wetland Research Park at Ohio State University achieved the status as the 24th USA Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in June 2008 from the Ramsar Convention in Switzerland.[9]
Wetlands are crucial to help clean up water
About William Mitsch
"Working with water" Mason Inman. 2010. Nature Reports Climate Change 4 April 2010 | doi:10.1038/climate.2010.28[10]
"An unseen carbon sink," Melanie Lenart. 2009. Nature Reports Climate Change 26 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/climate.2009.125[4]
Waist-deep in Ecological Integrity, Notre Dame Magazine, University of Notre Dame, Spring 2006[11]
Under Ground by Yvonne Baskin, Island Press, 2005, Chapter VI "Microbes, Muck, and Dead Zones"[12]
Sven Erik Jørgensen, Denmark; William J. Mitsch, USA, Stockholm International Water Institute, 2004 [6]
By William Mitsch (from more than 400)
Books
Mitsch, W.J., J.G. Gosselink, C.J. Anderson, and L. Zhang. 2009. Wetland Ecosystems, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 295 pp.[13]
Mitsch, W.J. and J.G. Gosselink. 2007. Wetlands, 4th ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 582 pp.[14]
Mitsch, W.J. and S.E. Jørgensen. 2004. Ecological Engineering and Ecosystem Restoration. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 472 pp.[15]
Mitsch, W.J. and S.E. Jørgensen. 1989. Ecological Engineering: An Introduction to Ecotechnology. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 472 pp.
Journal Articles
Altor, A.E. and W.J. Mitsch. 2008. Pulsing hydrology, methane emissions, and carbon dioxide fluxes in created marshes: A 2-year ecosystem study. Wetlands 28: 423-438.
Anderson, C.J. and W.J. Mitsch. 2006. Sediment, carbon, and nutrient accumulation at two 10-year-old created riverine marshes. Wetlands 26: 779-792.
Costanza, R., W.J. Mitsch, and J.W. Day. 2006. A new vision for New Orleans and the Mississippi delta: applying ecological economics and ecological engineering. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4: 465 - 472.
Day J.W., Jr., D. F. Boesch, E. J. Clairain, G. P. Kemp, S. B. Laska, W. J. Mitsch, K. Orth, H. Mashriqui, D. R. Reed, L. Shabman, C. A. Simenstad, B. J. Streever, R. R. Twilley, C. C. Watson, J. T. Wells, and D. F. Whigham.. 2007. Restoration of the Mississippi Delta: Lessons From Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Science 315: 1679-1684.
Day, J.W., Jr., C.A.S. Hall, A. Yáñez-Arancibia, D. Pimentel, C. Ibañez Marti, and W. J. Mitsch. 2009. Ecology in times of scarcity. BioScience 59: 321-331.
Hernandez, M.E. and W.J. Mitsch. 2007. Denitrification in created riverine wetlands: Influence of hydrology and season. Ecological Engineering 30: 78-88.
Mitsch, W.J. 1993. Ecological engineering—a cooperative role with the planetary life–support systems. Environmental Science & Technology 27:438-445.
Mitsch, W.J., X. Wu, R.W. Nairn, P.E. Weihe, N. Wang, R. Deal, C.E. Boucher. 1998. Creating and restoring wetlands: A whole-ecosystem experiment in self-design. BioScience 48: 1019-1030.
Mitsch, William J., John W. Day, Jr., J. Wendell Gilliam, Peter M. Groffman, Donald L. Hey, Gyles W. Randall, and Naiming Wang. 2001. Reducing nitrogen loading to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin: Strategies to counter a persistent ecological problem. BioScience 51: 373-388.
Mitsch, W.J. and S.E. Jørgensen. 2003. Ecological engineering: A field whose time has come. Ecological Engineering 20: 363-377.
Mitsch, W.J. and J.W. Day, Jr. 2004. Thinking big with whole ecosystem studies and ecosystem restoration—A legacy of H.T. Odum. Ecological Modelling 178: 133-155.
Mitsch, W.J., L. Zhang, C.J. Anderson, A. Altor, and M. Hernandez. 2005. Creating riverine wetlands: Ecological succession, nutrient retention, and pulsing effects. Ecological Engineering 25: 510-527.
Mitsch, W.J., J. Tejada, A.M. Nahlik, B. Kohlmann, B, Bernal, and C.E. Hernández. 2008. Tropical wetlands for climate change research, water quality management and conservation education on a university campus in Costa Rica. Ecological Engineering 34: 276-288.
Mitsch, W.J., J, Lu, X. Yuan, W. He, and L. Zhang. 2008. Optimizing ecosystem services in China. Science 322: 528.
Mitsch, W.J., L. Zhang, D.F. Fink, M.E. Hernandez, A.E. Altor, C.L. Tuttle and A.M. Nahlik. 2008. Ecological engineering of floodplains. Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 8: 139-147.
Mitsch, W.J., A.M. Nahlik, P. Wolski, B. Bernal, L. Zhang, and L. Ramberg. 2009. Tropical wetlands: Seasonal hydrologic pulsing, carbon sequestration, and methane emissions. Wetlands Ecology and Management DOI 10.1007/s11273-009-9164-4