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Ed Ricketts
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==Ecology== In Ricketts' day, [[ecology]] was early in its development. Now-common concepts such as habitat, [[ecological niche|niche]], [[Ecological succession|succession]], [[Predator|predator-prey relationship]]s, and [[food chain]]s were not yet mature ideas. Ricketts was among a few marine biologists who studied [[Intertidal zone|intertidal organisms]] in an ecological context. His first major scientific work β now regarded as a classic in marine ecology, and in its fifth edition β was ''[[Between Pacific Tides]]'', published in 1939, co-authored with Jack Calvin. The third and fourth editions were revised by [[Joel Hedgpeth]], a contemporary of Ricketts and Steinbeck; Hedgpeth continued the book's [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic]] excellence while retaining its ecological approach. The pioneering nature of Ricketts' book may be appreciated by comparison with another classic work, now in its fourth edition, that was published two years later, in 1941: ''Light's Manual'' by [[S. F. Light]] of the University of California, Berkeley. ''Light's Manual'' is technical, difficult for laymen, but essential for specialists. On the other hand, Ricketts' ''Between Pacific Tides'' is readable, full of observations and side comments, and readily accessible to anyone with a genuine interest in seashore life. It cannot serve as a thorough manual to marine invertebrates, but it addresses the common and conspicuous animals in a style that invites and educates newcomers and offers substantial information for experienced biologists. It is not organized according to taxonomic classification, but instead by habitat. Thus, crabs are not all treated in the same chapter; crabs of the rocky shore, high in the intertidal, are in a separate section from crabs of lower intertidal zones or sandy beaches. Some concepts that Ricketts used in ''[[Between Pacific Tides]]'' were novel then and ignored by some in academia. Ricketts, writes Bruce Robison of the [[Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute]], "was 'a lone, largely marginalized scientist' with no university degrees, and he had to struggle... against... traditionalists" to get the book published by Stanford University Press.<ref name="Bruce Robison 2004, p. 1"/> Ricketts' book ''Sea of Cortez'' is almost two separate books. The first section is a narrative, co-written by Steinbeck and Ricketts (Ricketts kept a daily journal during the expedition; Steinbeck edited the journal into the narrative section of the book). Later, the narrative was published alone as ''The Log from the Sea of Cortez'', without Ricketts's name. The remainder of the book, about 300 pages, is an "Annotated Phyletic Catalog" of specimens collected. This section was Ricketts' work alone. It was presented in the traditional taxonomic arrangement, but with numerous notes on ecological observations. Ricketts pursued pathfinding studies in quantitative ecology, analyzing the Monterey sardine fishery. In a 1947 article in the ''[[The Monterey County Herald|Monterey Peninsula Herald]]'', he documented sardine harvests, described sardine ecology, and noted that harvests were declining as fishing intensity increased. When the sardines became depleted and the industry was destroyed, Ricketts explained what had happened to the sardines: "They're in cans."<ref>Early years and family info, pp. xv-xxii; daughters, pp. 111 and 199; WWII draft, p. 177; Separation from Nan, fire, p. xxxi; Toni and Kay, Alice, death, pp. xliv-lii; Nancy Jane's son, p. 237; Essay info, pp xxxii-xxxvii; John Cage reference, pp. 81-84 and p. 194. Ricketts, Edward Flanders. Rodger, Katharine A. (2003). ''Renaissance Man of Cannery Row: The Life and Letters of Edward F. Ricketts''. University of Alabama Press. {{ISBN|0-8173-5087-X}}</ref> The research Ricketts did on sardines was a seminal application of ecology to fisheries science, but it was not published as an academic paper. He is not widely recognized by fisheries scientists. The prominent fisheries scientist [[Daniel Pauly]] comments: "That's probably due to the fact that his stuff isn't widely available... This is strange, but fisheries scientists so far as they are trained do extraordinarily little ecology... I will not publish a paper on [[Pelagic fish|pelagics]] without now mentioning Ricketts".<ref>[http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/archives/2005/2005-Oct-13/Article.news_feature/2 Ed Ricketts' death, 50 years ago last week, preceded that of Cannery Row by only a few months.]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} β Eric Enno Tamm (2005) Monterey County Weekly.</ref> The [[Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute]] deploys a four kilometer depth rated remotely operated vehicle named in honor of Ricketts's work, the ROV ''Doc Ricketts''.<ref>[http://www.mbari.org/dmo/vessels_vehicles/Doc_Ricketts/Doc_Ricketts.html Vessels and Vehicles - ROV ''Doc Ricketts''] ''Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute''.</ref>
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