author
William Austin Cannon
1870–1958
A pioneering American botanist, he helped open up the scientific study of desert plants at a time when ecology was still taking shape. His work ranged from plant anatomy and heredity to the ways roots survive heat, drought, and poor soils.
1 Audiobook
Botanical features of the Algerian Sahara
by William Austin Cannon
About the author
Born in Washington, Michigan, in 1870, William Austin Cannon studied at Stanford and Columbia, earning his PhD in 1901. Early in his career he investigated plant hybrids and was noted for suggesting, as early as 1902, that chromosomes played a role in heredity.
In 1903 he became the first resident investigator at the Carnegie Institution's Desert Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona. There he carried out pioneering research on desert plant physiology and ecology, especially root systems and how plants respond to harsh environments. Later accounts describe him as an important early figure in Sonoran Desert ecology.
Cannon continued his scientific career for decades and died in 1958. He is remembered for helping turn the desert into a serious field site for botanical research and for linking careful plant anatomy with bigger ecological questions.