A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine SciencePast Recipient, Dr. Tom Fenchel (1986) |
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| Last Modified: 2010-12-18
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Dr. Tom Fenchel, the ninth
recipient of the A.G. Huntsman Award, is
recognized for his fundamental studies of
microfauna in marine benthic and pelagic
communities. His pioneering work during
the late 1960s, when he investigated the
microbenthic flora and fauna of coastal
sediments in Denmark, marked the
initiation of new ecological work on an
undescribed and little known group of
marine organisms. During the course of
his studies, he developed new techniques
to quantify biomass, and identified a new
species of micro-organisms that live
within the interstitial space of all
sediments. These findings led to the
first descriptions of the highly
specialized foodwebs that occur within
these environments. The methods that he
developed to measure feeding rates of
ciliates preying on bacteria were first
applied to the microbenthic environment,
and have since been extended to more
recent studies of pelagic communities.
There his work emphasized the importance
of microplankton and micrograzer food
webs in the pelagic environment. His
findings and conclusions have
significantly increased our understanding
of the structure and function of marine
microbial communities in marine sediments
and the water column. 