Dauphin Island Sea Lab: DISL Remembers Time Spent With E.O. Wilson

Press release from the Estuarium at Dauphin Island Sea Lab:

E.O. Wilson points to the picture of a fire ant. The display panel in the Alabama Aquarium formerly named the Estuarium references Wilson's connection to the identification of the invasive species when he was a teenager. Rich Aronson, marine ecologist at Florida Institute of Technology and former DISL Senior Marine Scientist chats with Wilson during his tour. The Naturalist DISL's Laura Linn, Dr. Monty Graham, Local Artist Eugenia Foster, and E.O. Wilson. Foster painted the photo of the jellyfish in Wilson's honor. The painting was inspired by Wilson's description of jellyfish in his book "The Naturalist." See a larger image of the painting here. E.O. Wilson christens DISL's new research vessel that bears his name.

January 13, 2022

Wilson passed away on Sunday, December 26 at the age of 92. He was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and noted entomologist from Harvard University. As a teen, Wilson was the first to identify the imported Brazilian fire ant. Something he called, “Mobile’s gift to the South” during a lecture at the Fourth Annual Gulf of Mexico Symposium held in Mobile in 2000. 

This press release was produced by the Estuarium at Dauphin Island Sea Lab. The views expressed here are the author’s own.