Göte Turesson

Göte Wilhelm Turesson (April 6 1892 – December 301970) was a Swedish evolutionary botanist who made significant contributions to ecological genetics, and coined the terms ecotype and agamospecies. He conducted extensive work to demonstrate that there is a genetic basis to the differentiation of plant populations. This work stood in sharp contrast to most researchers at the time, who believed that the differentiation of plant populations was due to phenotypic plasticity. Further, Turesson came to the conclusion that differentiation of plant populations was largely driven by natural selection. His work on locally adapted plant populations led him to coin the term "ecotype" in 1922.

Life

Turesson was born in Malmö, Sweden. He completed his initial science studies in the United States at the University of Washington, obtaining his B.S. in 1914 and M.S. in 1915. He returned to Sweden, receiving his PhD from the Lund University in 1922. He was a lecturer at Lund until 1927, eventually taking a position at the Agricultural College at Ultuna outside Uppsala (since 1977 the main campus of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) where he remained from 1935 to 1959.

Legacy

Turesson's ideas and findings have had a lasting effect on evolutionary biology of plants.At the main campus of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Ultuna, one may still see a long row of birch trees of provenances ranging from Scania to Lappland, planted by Turesson. Spectacularly, bud burst in spring starts in the end of the southern provenances and proceeds 'northwards', while autumn leaf colouring and senescence starts in the northern provenances and proceeds 'southwards'. Thus, Turesson continues to remind SLU students that phenology has a genetic basis and that local adaption may be revealed in common garden experiments.

elected bibliography

*Turesson, G. (1922a). The species and variety as ecological units. Hereditas 3: 100-113.
*Turesson, G. (1922b). The genotypical response of the plant species to the habitat. Hereditas 3: 211-350.
*Turesson, G. (1925). The plant species in relation to habitat and climate. Hereditas 6: 147-236.

References

* [http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/chronob/TURE1892.htm Smith, C. H. (2005) Turesson biographical sketch]
*Briggs, D and Walters, SM. (1997). Plant variation and evolution, 3rd edition, pp. 167-174. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK.