Laura j martin biography of mahatma
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While at Cornell, she received national fellowships in both the sciences and the humanities. Through fieldwork, she studied the impact of human activities on the ecology and evolution of wetland species, publishing in Journal of Ecology, Conservation Biology, Trends in Ecology and the Environment, and elsewhere. DOI, pdf
Laura J.
Martin, “‘Building Some Big-Ass Wetlands’: Big Box Retail and the Origin of Wetland Mitigation Banking,” in Bart Elmore, Rachel, Gross, and Sherri Sheu, eds., Big-Box USA: The Environmental Impact of America’s Biggest Retail Stores (University of Colorado Press, 2024). She also began a project on the use of counter-terrorism technologies for international biodiversity protection.
Her current work is situated at the nexus of environmental history and science & technology studies.
As an Environmental Fellow, Laura worked with Peter Galison from the Department of the History of Science. As we face a rapidly changing planet, Martin’s clear-sighted, intelligent analysis offers hope that by recognizing the complex history of restoration, we can make way for its promising future.”—Nancy Langston, author of Climate Ghosts
“With astute and thought-provoking insights and graceful prose, this book arrives at a timely moment, as the twentieth century’s two dominant modes of environmental management, conservation and preservation, are being supplemented by techniques of ecological restoration… The book stands out as a portrayal of ecological restoration as an active scientific and social pursuit that offers a meaningful and needed sense of hope.”—Jeffrey K.
Stine, H-Net Reviews
Laura J. Martin
Laura Jane Martin is a historian and ecologist who studies the cultural and political dimensions of ecological management.
Laura earned an ScB in biophysics from Brown University in 2006, an MS in natural resources from Cornell University in 2010, and a PhD in natural resources from Cornell in 2015.
As Laura Martin observes, no question today could be more pressing, or more uncertain. In following the roots of restoration ecology, Martin explores how naturalness can be cultivated rather than found, providing us with seeds of hope in an age of climate despair.”—Erika Lorraine Milam, author of Creatures of Cain: The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America
“This is a superb book.
Science News
J. Laura Martin’s research takes us where no restoration literature has gone before, asking, ‘Who gets to decide where and how wildlife management occurs?’ Martin tackles this question with unmatched clarity and insight, illuminating the crucial discussions we must have to secure a future with thriving natural species and spaces.”—Peter Kareiva, President and CEO, Aquarium of the Pacific
“What does it mean to care for a wild species?
Through archival research, she investigated the history of ecological restoration in the 20th century United States. By fostering conversations among scientists and humanists, Laura hopes to generate research that can guide 21st century environmental management.
Faculty Host
Peter L. Galison, Department of the History of Science
In Wild by Design, Laura J.
Martin uncovers the origins of restoration science and policy. That Depends On Us,”Los Angeles Times, 28 March 2022
"An Ambitious Plan Would Formally Protect 30 Percent of Earth by 2030. DOI, pdf
Laura J. Martin, "Proving grounds: Ecological fieldwork in the Pacific and the materialization of ecosystems," Environmental History 23 (2018): 567–592.
Bradley Cantrell, Laura J. Martin, Erle C. Ellis, "Designing autonomy: Opportunities for new wildness in the Anthropocene," Trends in Ecology and Evolution 32 (2017): 156-166. pdf, The Atlantic, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Anthropocene Magazine
Vânia Proença, Laura J.
Martin, Henrique Miguel Pereira, Miguel Fernandez, Louise McRae, Jayne Belnap, Monika Böhm, Neil Brummitt, Jaime García-Moreno, Richard Gregory, João Honrado, Norbert Jürgens, Michael Opige, Dirk Schmeller, Patrícia Tiago, Chris A.M. van Swaay, "Global biodiversity monitoring: From data sources to Essential Biodiversity Variables," Biological Conservation 213 (2017): 256-263. pdf
Laura J.
Martin, "Mathematizing nature's messiness: graphical representations of variation in ecology, 1930-present," Environmental Humanities 7 (2015): 59-88. pdf
Dirk S. Schmeller, Romain Julliard, Peter J. Bellingham, Monika Böhm, Neil Brummitt, Alessandro Chiarucci, Denis Couvet, David M. Forsyth, Richard D. Gregory, Laura J.
Martin, Jean-Baptiste Mihoub, Jaime Carcia Moreno, Vânia Proença, Chris A.M. van Swaay, Jayne Belnap, "Towards a global terrestrial species monitoring program," Journal for Nature Conservation 25 (2015): 51-57. pdf
Laura J. Martin, Robert R. Dunn, Rachel Adams, Ashley Bateman, Holly M. Bik, John Hawks, Sarah Hird, David Hughes, Steven Kembel, Kerry Kinney, Sergios-Orestis Kolokotronis, Gabriel Levy, Craig McClain, James F.
Meadow, Raul Medina, Gwynne Mhuireach, Corrie Moreau, Jason Munshi-South, Clare Palmer, Laura Popova, Coby Schal, Martin Taubel, Michelle Trautwein, Juan Ugalde, "Evolution of the indoor biome," Trends in Ecology and Evolution 30 (2015): 223-232. pdf, Süddeutsche Zeitung, New York Times
Laura J.
Martin, Anurag A. Agrawal, Clifford E. Kraft, "Historically browsed jewelweed populations exhibit greater tolerance to deer herbivory than historically protected populations," Journal of Ecology 103 (2015): 243-249. pdf, Cornell Chronicle, Nature News
Laura J. Martin and Shauna-kay Rainford, Bernd Blossey, "Effects of plant litter diversity, species origin, and traits on larval toad performance," Oikos 124 (2015): 871-879. pdf
Laura J.
Martin and Sara B. Pritchard, "Correspondence: inclusive conservation excludes," Nature 516 (2014): 37. pdf
Laura J. Martin, John E. Quinn, Erle C. Ellis, M. Rebecca Shaw, Monica Dorning, Clifford E. Kraft, Lauren Hallett, Nicole E. Heller, Richard J. Hobbs, Elizabeth Law, Nicole Michel, Michael Perring, Patrick D.
Shirey, Ruscena Wiederholt, "Conservation opportunities across the world's anthromes," Diversity and Distributions 20 (2014): 745-755. pdf
Jason W. Karl, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Robert S. Unnasch, Jeffrey K. Gillan, Erle C. Ellis, Wayne G. Lutters, Laura J. Martin, "Discovering ecologically relevant knowledge from published studies through geosemantic searching," BioScience 63 (2013): 674–682. pdf
Laura J.
Martin and Bernd Blossey, "Intraspecific variation overrides origin effects in impacts of litter-derived secondary compounds on larval amphibians," Oecologia 173 (2013): 449-459. pdf
Laura J. Martin and Bernd Blossey, "Costs and failures of Phragmites australis management in the USA," Estuaries and Coasts 36 (2013): 626-632. pdf
Laura J.
Martin, Bernd Blossey, Erle C. Ellis, "Mapping where ecologists work: biases in the global distribution of terrestrial ecological observations," Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10 (2012): 195-201. pdf, Nature News
Laura J. Martin and Bernd Blossey, "Invasive plant cover impacts the desirability of lands for conservation acquisition," Biodiversity and Conservation 21 (2012): 1987-1996. pdf
Laura J.
Martin, "Where are the women in ecology?" Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10 (2012): 177-178. pdf
Laura J. Martin, "Metaphor and the idea of a dominant conservation ethic," Conservation Biology 24 (2010): 1172-1173. pdf
Laura J. Martin, "Reclamation and reconciliation: Land-use history, ecosystem services, and the Providence River," Urban Ecosystems 13 (2010):243-253. pdf
Laura J.
Martin and Bernd Blossey, "A framework for ecosystem services valuation," Conservation Biology 23 (2009): 494-496. pdf
Amity Wilczek, Judith Roe, Mary Knapp, Martha Cooper, Cristina Lopez-Gallego, Laura J. Martin, Christopher Muir, Sheina Sim, Alexis Walker, Jillian Anderson, J. Franklin Egan, Brook Moyers, Renee Petipas, Antonis Giakountis, Erika Charbit, George Coupland, Stephen Welch, and Johanna Schmitt, "Effects of genetic perturbation on seasonal life history plasticity." Science 323 (2009): 930-934. pdf, e!
Those acting on the ecological emergencies we face should look back on the stories told by this important book.” —Emily Pawley, Science
“A brilliant intervention in the history of conservation that charts changes in ecological understanding of how landscapes rebound from disaster. Evelyn Hutchinson’s Exultation in Natural History," American Scientist, July-August 2016
"The x-ray images that showed midcentury scientists how radiation affects an ecosystem," Slate, 28 December 2015
"Evolution of the indoor biome," Your Wild Life, 16 March 2015
"Space cadets and rat utopias," The Appendix – Futures of the Past Issue, 28 August 2014
"Is a footprint the right metaphor for ecological impact?" Scientific American, 2 April 2014
"The secret (and ancient) lives of houseplants," Your Wild Life, 21 April 2013
"Butterflies and bombs," Scientific American, 26 March 2013
"Postage stamps overlook Earth's tiny creatures," Scientific American, 20 February 2013
"#OverlyHonestMethods, or #SoGladWe'reHavingThisConversation," Scientific American, 9 January 2013
"The death of natural selection," Scientific American, 5 November 2012
"Scientists as writers," Scientific American, 15 August 2012
"The co-evolution of insects, plants, and a career," Scientific American, 16 April 2012
"Visiting the corpse plant," Scientific American, 21 March 2012
Laura J.
Martin, “Cryptic Invaders: The Genomics Revolution, Counter-Terrorism, and the Rise of Invasion Biology,” Osiris, volume 42, Abundance and Loss: Historical Perspectives on Diversity and Nature, in review
Laura J. Martin, “Beyond Habitat,” LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture, Fall 2025, pdf
Laura J. Martin, “Slow Restoration, Rewilding, and Design,” Ri-Vista: Research for Landscape Architecture 22 (2024): 104-113.
Wild by Design is a fascinating book—far-reaching, deeply researched, and probing.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future
“By showing how much wildness has already been designed over the past century, and under what assumptions, Martin enables us to plan better designs of our own, to conceive of restoration as “an optimistic collaboration” among humans and other species.
But There’s a Problem," Slate, 11 May 2021
"Avoiding Carbon Colonialism," The Hill, 26 April 2021
"The Coronavirus and Climate Action," Scientific American, 10 April 2020
"How Does Architecture Affect the Evolution of Other Species?" RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society, 2016 no.
In this provocative and fascinating book, Laura Martin grapples with this question by examining the boundaries of human intervention and wildness. DOI, pdf
Holly Jean Buck, Laura J. Martin, Oliver Geden, Peter Kareiva, Liz Koslov, Will Krantz, Ben Kravitz, John Noël, Edward A. Parson, Christopher J. Preston, Daniel L. Sanchez, Lynn Scarlett, Shuchi Talati, "Evaluating the efficacy and equity of environmental stopgap measures," Nature Sustainability (2020).