Dwight Billings

Dwight Billings

William Dwight Billings (December 29, 1910, Washington, D.C. – January 4, 1997, Durham, North Carolina) was an American ecologist. Billings was one of the foundational figures in the field of plant physiological ecology and made major contributions to desert and arctic ecology.

Billings served as President of the Ecological Society of America from 1978 to 1979. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1979. and awarded the Eminent Ecologist Award in 1991.

Billings' scientific studies on desert, arctic and alpine environments--what he termed "severe surroundings"--made him a pioneer and leader in the field of plant physiological ecology. Among the subjects he investigated were ecological phytogeography, the effect of substrate on plant growth and success, ecological races, plant metabolic rates, and the effects of temperature and moisture stress on plants. He was especially known for his work in the American West and in Alaska, but from time to time did research in other geographical locations as well. Billings was a highly popular and influential teacher; the fifty-two doctoral students he advised over his career have gone on to have a strong effect on the field of ecology.