Abigail Alling, M.S.
Abigail Alling,
M.S. is Chairman and President,
Biosphere Foundation and its Division
the
Planetary Coral Reef
Foundation (PCRF).
The Biosphere Foundation is a US 501(c)(3) organization with a primary
goal to inspire intelligent stewardship of our earth’s biosphere. Its
projects aim to contribute to the existing knowledge about the biosphere
and inspire individuals join through hands-on field work or virtual
education-outreach programs.
Planetary Coral Reef Foundation (PCRF) is a project of the Biosphere
Foundation. Since its inception in 1991, PCRF has pursued an
unprecedented global mission to preserve coral reefs through innovative
programs in science, education and technology.
Its vision is to stop the destruction of the world’s coral reefs by 2020
and restore
their beauty, health, and abundance within this century.
Abigail was one of the eight “biospherians” to live for two years
inside Biosphere 2, a
3.15-acre Laboratory for Global Ecology. At Biosphere 2, she created and
operated the
largest artificial ecological marine system, a 1,000,000-gallon
mangrove, marsh, and
ocean coral reef. She also served as Scientific Chief for over sixty
research projects.
She coauthored
Life Under Glass: The Inside Story of Biosphere 2.
Abigail is Fellow, World Academy of Art and Science;
Fellow, Linnean Society, UK;
Fellow, New York Explorers Club;
Committee Member, Espace Mer, France;
Associate Member, Institute for Advanced Studies in Life Support; and
Board of Directors, Journal of Life Support and Biosphere Science, USA.
Her papers include
Catastrophic coral mortality in the remote Central Pacific Ocean:
Kiribati, Phoenix Islands,
Lessons Learned from Biosphere 2 and Laboratory Biosphere Closed
Systems
Experiments for the Mars On Earth® Project,
“Living off the land”: resource efficiency of wetland
wastewater treatment,
Using a Closed Ecological System to Study
Earth’s Biosphere: Initial results from Biosphere 2,
Mapping and monitoring the health and vitality of coral reefs from
satellite: a biospheric approach, and
The Biosphere 2 project – Applications for space exploration and Mars
settlement.
Abigail earned her B.A. (honors) in Biology at
Middlebury College in 1977 and
earned her M.S. (honors) in Environment and Marine Ecology at
Yale University in 1985.
Read her
LinkedIn profile.