Maverick Science mag 2013-14

school. While preparing for admission
exams, Passy changed her mind and applied
to the biology and chemistry departments at
Sofia University. This pleased her father,
who was a renowned professor of philosophy
at the university, but chagrined her
mother, an endocrinologist who wanted her
to go into medicine.
“In retrospect, this was the right decision
— I do not handle suffering well, and open
wounds are definitely out of the question,”
Passy said. “I got accepted in both schools
but biology was closer to my heart and I
chose it over chemistry. This was fortunate
because later on, I realized that mixing acrid
and caustic substances in the lab and ruining
my clothes wasn’t my thing either.”
She earned an undergraduate degree in
1984, focusing on molecular biology. She
stayed at Sofia University and began work
on a master’s degree, switching to paleoecology
and studying diatom remains from an
ancient sea that covered parts of Europe and
Central Asia. After earning a master’s degree
in 1986, she worked as an assistant professor
of plant systematics at Sofia University before
deciding to begin doctoral studies. She
felt the best course was to conduct those
studies in the United States.
“I had the feeling that I had reached the
limits of my environment,” Passy said of the
educational opportunities in her native Bulgaria.
“People refer to the United States as
the land of opportunity, and although they
generally mean material prosperity, this
view cannot be truer anywhere else than in
science. We have witnessed an unprecedented
surge of wealth in the post-communist
world, but the advancement of science
has not kept pace.
“I came to the U.S. to learn, and what I
have learned made so much that was out of
reach for me before a reality.”
She was accepted to the Ph.D. program at Bowling Green State University
in Ohio in 1992 and wrote her dissertation on water quality issues
— how algal communities respond to organic pollution in streams.
“While working on my dissertation, I stumbled upon six algal species
from Bulgaria and South Africa, which I described as new to science,” she
said. “South Africa is known for its enormous plant biodiversity — comparable,
for example, to that of the tropical rainforest. So it was fascinating
to me that in a small scoop of the stream biofilm — the stuff that grows on
the bottom — from this region, there were so many algae never seen before.”
After earning her Ph.D. in 1997, she spent four years as a postdoctoral
researcher — first in protein structural biology at the University of Minnesota
and then in bio-monitoring at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
a private research university in Troy, N.Y. where she began her collaboration
with the USGS on acidification research. In 2000, she saw a posting
for a biology faculty position at UT Arlington. She had visited Texas once
before, and the thought of living in a warm climate enticed her.
“Having spent all my life in the northern latitudes, I was enchanted by
Texas when I visited for the first time in the spring of 1997,” she said. “It
was sunny, warm, and beautiful. There were flowers everywhere, and the
air was filled with hope and happiness. I was even more excited when I
came to visit in 2000 during my UTA interview. I already knew many of
the faculty from their works, but it was the possibility to interact with such
a diverse and fun group of scientists that sold the job for me.”
“is research
has far-reaching
consequences
for biodiversity
conservation
and stream
management.”
— Sophia Passy
Jonathan Campbell, professor and chair
of the UT Arlington biology department, was
impressed by Passy when he interviewed her
for the job and is even more impressed 13
years later.
“Dr. Passy's dedication and passion for
research is exceptional and her enthusiasm
is revealed in any conversation with her
about her work,” Campbell said. “She is able
to inspire her students with the excitement
and importance of conducting research. Her
work on stream acidification is making a significant
impact in her field. We are lucky to
have her in our department.”
T
he use of macroecology in
Passy’s research is maybe
best demonstrated in a
study that she says is “perhaps
my best piece of detective
work.” For decades,
stream ecologists thought
that major nutrients such as nitrogen and
phosphorus control algal communities,
which are the primary food source for herbivorous
bugs and fish in many streams,
Passy explained.
The paradigm was that these nutrients
stimulate growth and promote biodiversity
of algae in freshwater. A similar emphasis on
macronutrients (nutrients required in large
quantities) was given in marine systems. In
the late 1980s, however, the idea that iron restricted
algal production in large areas of the
open ocean revolutionized the field of
oceanography.
“This is where macroecology comes into
play. I was working on a very puzzling problem
— the biodiversity of algae did not show
a decline with latitude as in nearly all other
organisms, but a very strange pattern,” she
said. “To understand what might have
caused it, I looked what stream and watershed
properties across the U.S. exhibit corresponding latitudinal distributions.
I discovered that both stream iron concentration and wetland spread
conformed to the same latitudinal pattern as algal biodiversity.
“Contrary to the common belief, it was not nitrogen and phosphorus
that had the strongest positive impact on stream algae. It was iron, which
originated from the watershed wetlands. Simply put, the larger the wetland
the higher the iron concentration, and the greater the algal biodiversity in
the stream. Therefore, wetland destruction or alteration will have negative
consequences not only for the wetland itself but for the associated stream
network.”
Passy’s macroecology approach challenged the macronutrient paradigm
in streams. It also revealed that — similarly to the ocean — iron plays
a pivotal role in structuring algal communities, and it showed that wetlands
and streams form an ecological continuum, whereby a disruption in one
system would propagate to the other. The work was published in the leading
ecology journals Global Ecology and Biogeography in 2009 and Ecology
in 2010.
The work demonstrated Passy’s ability to see patterns and understand
how processes viewed in the micro environment can significantly affect
things on a much larger scale.
“Any small scale experiment or observation captures just a facet of the
complexity of life,” Passy said. “Macroecology puts these facets together,
allowing us to understand better how nature works. That’s why I love what
I’m doing so much.” n
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