Leslie Holdridge

Leslie Holdridge
Born	Leslie Rensselaer Holdridge September 29, 1907 Ledyard, Connecticut
Died	June 19, 1999(1999-06-19) (aged 91) Easton, Maryland
Nationality	American
Citizenship	USA
Alma mater	H. B.S. in Forestry, University of Maine, 1931, postgrad., 1931-32 M.S. in Ecology, University of Michigan, 1946, Ph.D., 1947.
Scientific career
Institutions	Costa Rica Institute of Technology

Leslie Ransselaer Holdridge (September 29, 1907 – June 19, 1999) was an American botanist and climatologist.

Career

Main article: Holdridge life zones

Diagram of life zone classifications.

In his famous 1947 paper,^[1] he defined "life zones" using three indicators:

1. Mean annual biotemperature (average temperature, after data values below 0 °C or above 30 °C have been eliminated)
2. Total annual precipitation
3. The ratio of mean annual potential evapotranspiration to mean total annual precipitation.^[1]

Holdridge participated in the Cinchona Missions, a United States effort to search for natural sources of quinine during World War II.^[2]

Personal life

He was the father of composer Lee Holdridge as well as the father of Leslie A. Holdridge, Lorena Holdridge, Marbella Holdridge, Marly Holdridge, Marisela Holdridge, Thania Holdridge, John Holdridge, Ida Holdridge, Reuseland Holdridge, Leythy J. Holdridge and youngest son Gregory Holdridge whom he fathered with Costa Rican Clara Luz Melendez.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Climate classification

References

1. Holdridge, L.R. (1947). "Determination of world plant formations from simple climatic data". Science. 105 (2727): 367–8. Bibcode:1947Sci...105..367H. doi:10.1126/science.105.2727.367. PMID 17800882.
2. Steere, W. (1945). The Cinchona-Bark Industry of South America. The Scientific Monthly, 61(2), 114-126. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/18623