The MBL Ecosystems Center Celebrates its Golden Anniversary 

Many stories were told, a few tears were shed, and abundant insights, memories and predictions were shared at the 50th Anniversary Symposium of the MBL Ecosystems Center on May 29-31 in Clapp Auditorium.  

Led by the scientific triumvirate of Anne Giblin, current Ecosystems Center director, and former Center co-directors John Hobbie and Jerry Melillo, the symposium showcased the deep and wide contributions to ecological research and education that the Center has made over the past half-century.  

“My recollection is, the Ecosystems Center was founded to support basic ecological research, strengthen education at MBL, and find practical applications for management of natural resources,” said Melillo, who joined the Center in its inaugural year of 1975 after being recruited by Center co-founders George Woodwell and then-MBL Director Jim Ebert.  

“Looking back, I think the Ecosystems Center has been true to its mission and these challenges. I applaud the Center for this, especially its efforts in education,” Melillo said, recognizing the center’s Semester in Environmental Science, now the MBL’s longest-running undergraduate program and a model for several other educational programs since. 

In her introductory talk, Giblin gave a broad 50-year overview of the center’s experimental and observational research over many decades and different ecosystems, from the Arctic to Brazil to salt marshes in the MBL’s own backyard.  

The long-term datasets Center scientists have collected and stewarded from these sites are invaluable to project the trajectory of global change.  

 “Just in the time we’ve been in the Arctic, since the mid-1970s, we’ve seen major disturbances that were never there before, such as tundra fires and land failures from permafrost thawing,” Giblin said. “We have to connect all these long-term studies at different sites to predict the future.” 

“The Ecosystems Center is about science, but it’s also about outreach, education and policy,” Giblin said. And, since she joined the center in 1983, “It’s been a lot of fun. There is no place I’d rather be.” 

Below are a few photos from the symposium’s morning session on May 30. Check back for more stories about the Ecosystems Center’s distinguished past, present, and envisioned future, which MBL Communications is proud to share over the next several months as its anniversary year progresses.