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Mooney (Harold A.) Papers
SC1183
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Harold A. Mooney papers
creator:
Mooney, Harold A.
Identifier/Call Number: SC1183
Physical Description:
21.5 Linear Feet
(15 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1993-2015
The materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in
original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special
Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
[identification of item], Harold A. Mooney Papers (SC1183). Dept. of Special Collections
and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Dr. Mooney entered the University of California at Berkley as a political science major,
but was forced to halt his studies for economic reasons and accepted a job on a freighter
traveling down the west coast of the Americas. While transiting the Panama Canal, he read in
a magazine about being a collector for the United States Department of Agriculture's Plant
Exploration unit, which lead to a major change in his career path. Dr. Mooney, who had taken
a strong interest in plants through his activities in the mountains of California, was
extremely attracted to an occupation in which he could both study plants and go on
adventurous travels. So he transferred to the University of California's Santa Barbara
campus, which had a plant ecology program.
In 1957, he researched the physiological processes of Arctic-Alpine plants over a vast
natural range extending from Alaska to the Rocky Mountains. He studied photosynthesis and
respiration of the plants using an infrared gas analyzer and equipment that he helped to
design and was able to demonstrate the physiological basis for ecotypic differentiation by
comparing the plants that were raised in controlled environments with naturally occurring
plants. He showed that plants adapted their physiological processes to their local
environments.
After he obtained his doctorate in 1960, he embarked on research into convergent evolution
that showed that different plant species develop the same physiological characteristics in
response to the same severe environments. He earned acclaim for demonstrating that
similarities between different species were not limited to form, which had already been
demonstrated, but also extended to function. He accomplished this by comparing the ecology
and physiological characteristics of plants in the drought-limited Mediterranean climates in
the geographically disparate California and Chilean coastal regions and Mediterranean
Basin.
In the 1970s, he took a broader approach to examine not only carbon gain but carbon use by
plants in an area of California ranging from the desert to the White Mountains and applied a
cost-benefit approach to clarify how carbon resources are allocated to different sites in
plants for photosynthesis, or various other functions. He had a significant impact on later
studies into plant physiological ecology and advanced research into carbon gain and use in
plants by showing in a detailed cost analysis how plants obtain carbohydrates and nitrogen,
and how they distribute and store them to obtain the greatest effect with the lowest
expenditure of energy.
Through these studies, Dr. Mooney showed how plant species and groups of species respond to
their environments, thereby contributing to the theoretical framework of plant physiological
ecology, and developed research methodologies for assessing how plants interact with their
biotic environments. To date he has authored over 400 scientific books, papers and
articles.
In the latter half of the 1980s, he pursued research into the effect of the invasion of
different plant species on naturally occurring species under the auspices of the Scientific
Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), setting up the first global evaluation of
invasive plant species. He regarded the acceleration of problems related to invasive species
due to increased international commerce with grave concern, recognized the need for joint
research between naturalists and social scientists, and launched the Global Invasive Species
Program with many international institutions as partners. Through such programs, he has
brought awareness to the topic of the impact of human activities upon ecosystems through
species introductions.
Dr. Mooney has played an international leadership role in recent years, especially with
problems related to biodiversity and global warming. In addition, he has been active in
building up worldwide communities and networks of ecologists and scientists in other
disciplines and arranging international conferences on the environment. He played a central
role in the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), building up an international
organization of scientists and having an influential part in setting the guidelines for the
formulation of environmental policies. He has advanced numerous international research
programs as Secretary General and Vice-President of the International Council for Science
(ICSU). Furthermore, he is working to solicit the interest of the general public in many
scientific topics through the media and other channels. As president of the Ecological
Society of America he helped launched the publication of a new journal called Ecological
Applications that is intended to make use of ecology as a useful tool for management, and
worked to promote the designation of the International Biodiversity Observation Year.
Dr. Mooney has demonstrated the importance of ecological studies in the research of changes
in the global environment and helped to build the foundation for the field of global
ecology. Now universities around the world are establishing global ecology research
departments. He continues to work toward the development of new environmental sciences that
will be required for the continued existence of humankind.
The materials consist of correspondence, subject files, research files, committee records,
and other materials documenting the impacts of global environmental change on terrestrial
ecosystems, especially on ecosystem function, productivity and biodiversity.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Harold A. Mooney, 2013-2018.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ecology -- Congresses.
Environmental protection -- Congresses.
Environmental policy -- United States.
Mooney, Harold A.