Walter H. Adey, PhD
In his over 65 years as a marine researcher, Dr. Adey has brought together extensive field and complementary laboratory studies to better understand seaweed and their role as photosynthesizers, ecosystem engineers and energy suppliers. Earlier, known for his work in bringing the early stages of SCUBA to hundreds of dive stations over thousands of miles of coast, with his purpose-built research vessels, he produced the first knowledge of coralline ecology and biogeography. Later, he brought that understanding into the laboratory as experimental ecosystems, microcosms and mesocosms to better understand the functioning of the wild counterparts. In his role as researcher and curator at the Smithsonian Institution, his living model displays of marine ecosystems became known to a wide public.
Uncovering the Geological History of Caribbean Coral Reefs
Throughout the 1970’s and’80’s, while seeking to fully understand the crucial role of algae in coral reef systems, Dr. Adey uncovered the extensive and complex story of 10,000 years of Caribbean Coral Reef development. Using core drilling, extensive aerial photography and his research vessel ability to cover the entire Caribbean Sea with a network of SCUBA stations, he and his many students uncovered a previously unknown history of geological scale.
Biomimicry from Coral Reefs: The Origins of ATS Technology
By the 1970’s, coral reefs were an enigma: highly productive ecosystems in nutrient-poor seas. Dr. Adey was able to demonstrate that the key was innumerable tiny algal turfs, driven by trade wind seas breaking across the reefs. As a biomimicry, he and his students transformed that understanding into the process of algal turf scrubbing (ATS), first to support his many mesocosm ecosystems and later fish aquaculture, finally expanded to the pilot scale treatment of sewage, chemical wastes and river systems. Dean Calahan, one of his post docs, showed that at global scale polluted water could be cleaned of their contaminants, including carbon dioxide. Many patents were obtained on the chemical/ mechanical processes to support further development.
Tank determined growth rates as a function of light and temperature in P. Calcareum. 1.7X Standard deviation
Coralline Algae: Nature’s Hidden Archive of Climate History
As a graduate student, Adey demonstrated that coralline algae were very long lived and in their calcium carbonate cell walls kept a chemical history of their environment. Later in his career, he joined with a wide array of geochemists and their students to demonstrate that, just as their tropical reef-building counterparts, Subarctic and Arctic corallines could provide a millennial history of past climates and water quality.
Subarctic Coralline Algae and the Thermogeographic Model
Although Walter Adey's specialty is coralline algae (calcified, lichen-like red algae that grow from the tropics to arctic marine waters), he has carried out extensive field work from Arctic to tropical North Atlantic and Caribbean on a wide range of seaweeds. He has concentrated his research on ecological studies using quantitative analyses of biomass and area cover.
Simulating natural ecosystems to better understand and restore our waters
Microcosms and Mesocosms are aquarium-like tools allowing experimental study of aquatic and wetland ecosystems. Many years of research in the Smithsonian Marine Systems Laboratory with a wide variety of constructed ecosystems has demonstrated the ability to carry out experiments on functioning ecosystem models in a laboratory setting.
by Walter H. Adey
Books
Education / Experience
Education
Professional Positions
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SB, Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1951-1955
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1956-1959: Research and Teaching Assistant, Geophysics and Paleontology, M. I. T.
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1959-1960: Research Fellow, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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1960-1963: Teaching Fellow, Botany, University of Michigan
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1963-1964: Research Associate, Colorado School of Mines
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1964-1970: Assoc. Curator, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Inst.
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1977-1999: Director, Marine Systems Laboratory, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution
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1972- 2013: Occasional Adjunct professor: Universities of Maryland, Georgetown, Maine, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, S. Florida, Hood College; Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William and Mary. West Indies Lab., Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.,
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1970 -2015: Research Scientist and Curator, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution.
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2015-present: Emeritus Researcher and Curator, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution.
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Graduate Studies, Paleontology and Biology MIT/Harvard University, 1956-1960
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PhD, Marine Botany and Pleistocene Geology, University of Michigan, 1960-1963
Publications 1964-2025
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186 Research Articles in Scientific Journals
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10 U.S. Patents
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Six Books
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Complete List, U.S. National Museum of Natural History Web Site
"Smithsonian Emeritus Research Scientist Walter Adey’s Skating on Thin Ice: An Autobiography of a Life in Science, provides a captivating portrait of a man driven by passion and endless curiosity. Now 92, Adey retraces the unlikely upbringing that gave him the perseverance to launch his research pursuits in marine science. These endeavors set the course for decades of exploration into ocean ecosystems and biogeography, coral reefs, and algal communities, and established him as a preeminent pioneer in his field. Chronicling a lifetime of seafaring adventures around the world, the book is at times a history of scientific discovery and achievement and at others a memoir of a personal and professional path fueled not only by unwavering discipline, but also by risk-taking and luck. Ultimately, readers will find in this book a fascinating scientific record and a profound blueprint for a life of purpose, demonstrating that with enough vision and daring, one can navigate even the most uncertain waters to leave a lasting impact on our world.”
-Melanie Brooks, author of Writing Hard Stories and A Hard Silence