Catherine Keever

Catherine Keever (September 8, 1908 - May 9, 2003) was an educator and ecologist focused on ecological succession and highland region ecology. Keever proved that moss is the first plant to grow on bald rock, rather than lichens.

Catherine Keever
Born(1908-09-08)September 8, 1908
Iredell County, North Carolina
DiedMay 9, 2003(2003-05-09) (aged 94)
Charlotte, North Carolina
NationalityAmerican
EducationDuke University
OccupationEcologist
Years active1940s-1990
Known forHighland Region Ecological Research

Early life

Keever was born September 8, 1908 in Iredell County, North Carolina to John C. Keever, a Methodist preacher, and Blanche Moore Keever.[1] Her brother, Homer Keever, was the historian of Irdell County, NC.[2] During her childhood, Keever moved throughout Western North Carolina within the Methodist Conference as her father took on various churches. She attended Davenport College in Lenoir, North Carolina for two years before transferring to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She completed her bachelor's degree, master's degree, and Ph.D. at Duke majoring in botany with minor studies in zoology.[3] Throughout her studies, Keever taught at public high schools in Linwood, Lowell, and Burlington, North Carolina.[4] During her education, Keever's research focused on plant growth and soil building process in highland areas.[5] Dr. Elsie Quarterman was one of Keever's classmates at Duke and they remained friends and consistent collaborators throughout their lives.[6] They both studied under HJ Oosting at Duke and graduated within their PhDs in 1949.[7]

Career

During her time at Duke, Keever extensively studied Rocky Face Mountain in Hiddenite, NC. Through her studies, she found proof that moss is the first plant to grow on bald rock and is the plant element that leads to soil attraction, rather than lichens, which was the scientific opinion at the time.[2][8] Upon completing her education, Catherine Keever taught for two years at Duke before moving to Winthrop College in South Carolina where she taught biology.[3] After Winthrop, she moved to Limestone College, where she would be named head of the biology department in 1952.[3] In 1953, on the basis of ecological trends, Keever would speculate that oak-hickory forests would replace chestnut-oak forests in Southern Appalachia - an observation confirmed in a 1980 study by J. Frank McCormick and Robert B. Platt.[9][10] She later moved on to the University of Georgia, where she taught botany until 1955. That same year she would move to Millersville University in Pennsylvania to teach botany and ecology. She would remain there until her retirement in 1974.[4]

Despite not being at a research-heavy institution for the bulk of her career, Catherine Keever felt that she had an advantage. While she had a heavy teaching load, she was still able to conduct research on her own, rather than having to perform to the pressure of "publish or perish".[11] During the 1970's, Keever and Dr. Elsie Quarterman took part in the National Natural Landmark inventories. During the inventory they identified two tracts of high-quality oak-hickory forest within Montgomery Bell State Park in Dickson County, Tennessee which provides the best known example of representative oak-hickory forest ecosystems on the Western Highland Rim in Tennessee.[12] The presence of southern red oak and post oak in the dominant soil layer provide floristic and ecological affinities not found elsewhere in the upland forest. This area is now referred to as a Class II Natural-Scientific State Natural Area.[12] After her retirement, Keever moved back to North Carolina residing in Boonville, and then Charlotte where she continued to conduct research and write.[7]

Legacy and Honors

Catherine Keever passed away at the age of 94 on May 9, 2003 in Charlotte, N.C.[4]

The Southeastern Chapter of the Ecological Society of America gives an annual Quarterman-Keever award for the best student poster in Ecology.[13] Millersville University offers funds through a Keever Biology Research Training Fund established through a donation from Dr. Keever. The award is used to train students in methods and values of scientific research and is used to support undergraduate biology majors.[14] Keever also provided a grant to Thomas Ellsworth Hemmerly for printing a full color field guide to Appalachian Wildflowers.[15]

Publications
  • "Causes of Succession on Old Fields of the Piedmont, North Carolina" from Ecological Monographs, 1950[16]
  • "Present Composition of Some Strands of the Former Oak-Chestnut Forest in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains" from Ecology, 1953[10]
  • "Establishment of Grimmia Laevigata on Bare Granite" from Ecology, 1957[8]
  • (with Elsie Quarterman) "Southern mixed hardwood forest: climax in the southeastern Costal Plain" from Ecological Monographs
  • "Distribution of Major Forest Species in Southeastern Pennsylvania" from Ecological Monographs, 1973[17]
  • Moving on: a way of Life from Brady Printing Company, Statesville, NC[11]

References
  1. "Dr. Catherine Keever". Charlotte Observer. 14 May 2003.
  2. "14 Jul 1971, Page 7 - Statesville Record And Landmark at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  3. "21 Aug 1952, Page 1 - The Gaffney Ledger at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  4. "CHARLOTTE - Dr. Catherine Keever". The Herald-Sun. 15 May 2003.
  5. "14 Jul 1971, Page 7 - Statesville Record And Landmark at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  6. Ware, Stewart (2015). "Resolution of Respect: Elsie Quarterman, 1910–2014". The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 96 (1): 74–76. doi:10.1890/0012-9623-96.1.74. ISSN 2327-6096.
  7. Langenheim, Jean H. (1996). "Early History and Progress of Women Ecologists: Emphasis Upon Research Contributions". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 27: 1–53. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.27.1.1. ISSN 0066-4162. JSTOR 2097228.
  8. Keever, Catherine (1957). "Establishment of Grimmia Laevigata on Bare Granite". Ecology. 38 (3): 422–429. doi:10.2307/1929885. ISSN 0012-9658. JSTOR 1929885.
  9. McCormick, J. Frank; Platt, Robert B. (1980). "Recovery of an Appalachian Forest Following the Chestnut Blight or Catherine Keever-You Were Right!". The American Midland Naturalist. 104 (2): 264–273. doi:10.2307/2424865. ISSN 0003-0031. JSTOR 2424865.
  10. Keever, Catherine (1953). "Present Composition of Some Stands of the Former Oak-Chestnut Forest in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains". Ecology. 34 (1): 44–54. doi:10.2307/1930307. ISSN 1939-9170. JSTOR 1930307.
  11. Keever, Catherine (1985). Moving on: a way of life. Statesville, NC: Brady Printing Company.
  12. "Montgomery Bell". www.tn.gov. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  13. "Elsie Quarterman-Catherine Keever Award". www.esa.org. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  14. "Keever Biology Research Training Fund". Millersville University. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  15. Hemmerly, Thomas Ellsworth (2000). Appalachian Wildflowers. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-2181-3.
  16. Keever, Catherine (1950). "Causes of Succession on Old Fields of the Piedmont, North Carolina". Ecological Monographs. 20 (3): 229–250. doi:10.2307/1948582. ISSN 1557-7015. JSTOR 1948582.
  17. Keever, Catherine (1973). "Distribution of Major Forest Species in Southeastern Pennsylvania". Ecological Monographs. 43 (3): 303–327. doi:10.2307/1942344. ISSN 0012-9615. JSTOR 1942344.
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