Egbert Giles Leigh Interviewed by Daniel Edelstein
Posted February 2, 2001 · Issue 95

Born	July 27, 1940, in Richmond, Virginia
Position	Staff Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama, Central America
Biography	Graduated with B.A., Princeton University, 1962. Received his Ph.D. in 1966 from Yale University. Hired as a biologist and staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in 1969 (joint appointment with Princeton University). Formerly served as assistant professor in biology at Princeton University from 1966-72. After completing his Ph.D., he worked as an acting instructor in biology at Stanford University during the spring quarter of 1966.
Research interests	His research interests include investigating evolutionary aspects of theoretical population genetics. Another primary focus is community ecology, especially trophic dynamics of rainforest communities and the physiognomy and architecture of tropical trees and forest. He also continues to explore philosophical and theological issues relating to science in general and conservation biology in particular. His research has helped advance the understanding of how mutualism evolves, when natural selection is likely to transform cooperating groups of organisms into more coherent wholes, and how the selective processes involved are reflected by genetic conflicts between the relevant wholes and their parts today. In recent years, he has become well-known for his views on human altruism and how it relates to the health of ecosystems and the planet.

What first inspired you to go into your field?

A first-rate biology teacher, Frank Wilson Trevor, at Millbrook School, Millbrook, New York. He taught a traditional course, working through the phyla from bacteria and blue-green algae to vertebrates. As a result, I was provided a good idea of the variety in nature. He knew the writings of D'Arcy Thompson, and was thereby able to point out the adaptive engineering features featured in different kinds of organisms. He also knew their natural history, and he communicated a good understanding of natural selection and evolution.

What was the key event that pushed you into research?

In those days [the 1960s] once a person became interested in biology, research was the default option. Support for graduate students and decent academic jobs were readily available. In retrospect, I believe they were probably too easily obtained.

Who was your most influential mentor?

Alfred George Fischer (at the time in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, Princeton University) was my most influential mentor, though he did not supervise either my undergraduate or my graduate work.

At that time, he was the best naturalist at Princeton. He stimulated my interest in paleontology, introduced me to the techniques of paleoecological inference, and made me aware of the larger, longer-scale patterns evolutionary theory had to explain. He may also be ultimately responsible for my interest in tropical biology.

Which research paper had the most effect on your work?

G.E. Hutchinson's "Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why are There so Many Kinds of Animals?" in the American Naturalist, vol. 93, pp. 145-159 (1959). This paper showed me what could be learned from understanding biological diversity and how one might approach the problem. But there's a book that influenced me even more: Ronald Fisher's Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1930). This book gave me an understanding of the central problems of evolutionary biology, and showed me how to use population genetics to understand "the major features of evolution."

Who awarded you your first grant and what was it for?

The Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program awarded me my first grant, in 1968, to compare the structure and physiognomy of tropical rainforests around the world.

What was your best experiment?

I am not an experimentalist so I cannot answer this question.

Which scientific idea or concept perplexes you the most and why? I.e., confuses you and is difficult for you to understand?

"Consciousness" is a concept that seems to be particularly difficult to define satisfactorily in an operational manner. Because of the confusion over what the word should mean, some people think they can explain consciousness "mechanistically," whereas others find these "explanations" unspeakably irrelevant.

What qualities do you need to be a successful researcher?

It helps to have (1) a love of nature, (2) an ability to see what is odd about the seemingly everyday events in our lives, (3) a good imagination, and (4) a willingness to test one's imaginings by the light of reality.

Currently, one also requires nerves strong enough to take time to think in an academic setting designed to deprive all junior faculty members of time to think. Indeed, time for any interior life whatsoever is difficult for faculty to find these days. Perfectionism seems to be the deadliest disease a scientist can contract. We have to learn that perfection is the prerogative of God.

If you could work with any scientist (historical or current), who would it be and why?

Probably Thelma Rowell, a primatologist recently retired from the University of California at Berkeley. She has a remarkable sense for what makes mammal societies "work" and a perfectly extraordinary capacity to look at old facts in new ways and stand "received wisdom" upon its pointed head.

From my brief contacts with her, I learned how cooperation could evolve among members of a monkey group when there was too much dispersal among groups to allow effective selection among groups. I can't help feeling there was much more to learn from her about the evolution of cooperation among mammals - a scenario that appears to be governed by principles rather different from the principles governing the evolution of complex insect societies.

What will be the great discoveries of this century?

I am not a big enough fool to try to answer that one. In 1900, or even 1950, one could not have predicted the triumphs of the molecular approach to developmental biology. Science will change faster in this century than it did the last, making prediction more difficult.

What is your greatest unanswered scientific question?

I have long wanted to know what factors influence the shapes of trees and the sizes and arrangements of their leaves in different forests. In particular, I'd like to know what constraints of engineering influence the size and shape of trunk, branches and twigs, branching pattern, crown shape and size, leaf size, and leaf arrangement of trees in different habitats or different stations in the forest.

What is your proudest achievement?

Showing that fair meiosis serves the common interest of a genome's genes. In particular, fair meiosis ensures that an allele spreads only if it benefits the individuals carrying it. On the other hand, an allele that biases meiosis among heterozygotes at its locus to gain favor can spread a phenotypic defect through its population. If such an allele is spreading, however, selection at unlinked loci favors mutants that restore fair meiosis, thereby sparing some of their descendants from association with the distorter's defect. Because selection at all such unlinked loci favors the restoration of fair meiosis, one can say that fair meiosis reflects the common interest of the genome.

What scientific plans do you have for the next five years?

I am a blatant opportunist. I never know where my next idea will come from, so I don't place much faith in planning ahead.

Daniel Edelstein, a science writer and naturalist, lives in Maryland on a lake at the edge of a forest 35 miles west of Washington, D.C.

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