OXFORD, Miss. – After reviewing more than 1,500
studies on global coastal ecologies, a respected
University of Mississippi aquatic biologist has
concluded that climate change is, indeed, real.
Stephen Threlkeld, UM biology professor, has served
for the past nine years as managing editor of
Estuaries and Coasts, the journal of the Estuarine
Research Federation. He has handled the review of
research manuscripts examining the ecology of
estuaries and coasts around the world.
“Coastal areas have already started to change, and
they’ll definitely be different from today within
100 years,” said Threlkeld, who recently received
the Estuarine Research Federation’s Distinguished
Service Award.
“In our scholarly community, research excellence is
usually exhibited by publishing papers in refereed
scientific journals,” said Paul Lago, chair of UM’s
biology department. “To have one of our faculty
members help edit one of those journals is a
feather in our cap.”
In the mid 1990s, Threlkeld worked as a technical
editor for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, which released four assessment reports on
climate change dating back to 1990. IPCC
assessments, based on peer-reviewed scientific and
technical literature, are compiled by recognized
experts from around the world.
“Each of these reports was basically done by
different scientists,” he said. “In fact, only
about 10 (percent) to 20 percent of the scientists
have worked on multiple IPCC reports. To me, this
independence validates the findings published in
the previous reports. The same data keeps coming
up, and it is obvious that climate change is real.”
The IPCC shared a Nobel Peace Prize with former
Vice President Al Gore last year for work on global
climate change.
“The chairman of the IPCC accepted the Peace Prize
on behalf of all of the scientists and authors who
have contributed to its work, so that’s an honor I
feel privileged to share,” Threlkeld said.
Threlkeld said the Peace Prize is a wake-up call to
the globe and is hopeful it will raise public
awareness of climate change and restore some of the
public’s respect for environmental science.
“Societies that mismanage their natural resources
eventually come to regret it,” he said. “It’s not
too late, but it’s going to be painful.”
The Estuarine Research Federation is an
international organization of estuarine and coastal
scientists. As managing editor of Estuaries and
Coasts, Threlkeld got UM’s Department of
Information Technology to help construct a Web site
for the journal and recruited Ole Miss art students
and faculty to help redesign its cover. He also
helped streamline the journal’s manuscript
publishing procedures and produced a set of CD-ROMs
containing 40 years of the journal’s back issues.
“None of these accomplishments would have been
possible without the help of a great many
colleagues at the university and around the world,”
Threlkeld said.
Intrigued by pond life and high school biology
classes, Threlkeld received his bachelor’s degree
in biological oceanography from the University of
Washington. He also earned a doctoral degree in
zoology from Michigan State University.
Before joining the UM faculty in 1991, Threlkeld
taught at the University of California-Davis and
University of Oklahoma. He also served as director
of the National Science Foundation’s population
biology and physiological ecology program and was
director of Fordham University’s field station.
Throughout his 30-year career, Threlkeld has
received more than $6 million in funding from
federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, National Science Foundation and
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
For more information on biology programs at UM, go
to
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/biology/.