Change Over Time

The University of Chicago has close historical ties to field research in the southern Lake Michigan region. Henry Chandler Cowles was a renowned ecologist and UChicago professor of botany and plant ecology. He conducted his groundbreaking research in ecological succession and the dynamics of temporal plant community change along the South Shore of Lake Michigan. He is most well-known for his 1898 doctoral dissertation on the ecological theory of succession, developed in the dune habitats of northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan.

Cowles dedicated most of his career at UChicago to inspiring and educating the next generation of ecologists and botanists through field trips and camping excursions through the region. He trained several influential scientists and, in the latter part of his career, focused on teaching. He pioneered experiential learning in the field with hundreds of students in his botany courses. Cowles was the first chair of UChicago’s Department of Plant Ecology, which later became the Department of Ecology and Evolution. Henry Chandler Cowles is often called the father of American ecology. The field station and site were established following a generous bequest from the estate of Harriet Cowles Waller, daughter of Henry Chandler Cowles.