Arturo Gómez-Pompa

Arturo Gómez-Pompa (October 21, 1934 – September 17, 2025) was a Mexican tropical biologist, a scientific advisor for the Tropical Research Center of the Universidad Veracruzana (CITRO), and a professor emeritus of botany at the University of California, Riverside. He made various contributions to the field of tropical ecology through the creation of databases used in botanical research, and he contributed to the research on the domestication of tropical trees.

Gómez-Pompa received numerous awards and recognition, including medals and elected positions in various academies. He continued to contribute to biology as an advisor and retired professor, and divided his time between Irving, Texas and Xalapa, Veracruz. He was from Mexico City.

Background Gómez-Pompa was born in 1934. He initially pursued a career in medicine to become a doctor, as his parents had hoped. However, this changed when he was fourteen and spent about two weeks exploring his cousin's ranch and falling in love with nature. Seeing wildlife such as coyotes, rattlesnakes, hawks, and cougars completely changed him, and he decided to study biology instead.

Gómez-Pompa died on September 17, 2025, at the age of 90.

Career National Autonomous University of Mexico where Gómez-Pompa obtained his doctorate in Sciences (Biology) in 1966. Gómez-Pompa was a tropical biologist who had spent over 40 years in academia in various international institutions as a professor, helping to teach generations of future leaders in science.

Gómez-Pompa's projects included these topics -

Allen, E. B., M. F. Allen, L. Egerton-Warburton, L. Corkidi, A. Gomez-Pompa, Arturo. Impacts of early- and late-seral mycorrhizae during restoration in seasonal tropical forest, Mexico. Ecological Applications. 13(6): 1701–1717. Gómez-Pompa and his colleagues looked at how disturbance may change the species composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and the plant species that are affected by them. Their results suggested that when seedlings are infused, early-seral AMF should be used for restoration.

Anaya, A. L., R. Mata, J. Sims, A. Gonzalez-Coloma, R. Cruz-Ortega, A. Guadano, B. E. Hernandez-Bautista, S. L. Midland, G. Rios, A. Gomez-Pompa, Allelochemical potential of Callicarpa acuminata. Journal of Chemical Ecology 29(12): 2761–2776.

In this paper, Gómez-Pompa and various other scientists discuss the allelopathic roles that metabolites of M. yucatanesis play and the ecological interactions it has with its host plant and other organisms.

Heaton, H. J., R. Whitkus, and A. Gomez-Pompa. 1999. Extreme ecological and phenotypic differences in the tropical tree chicozapote (Manilkara zapota (L.) van Royen) are not matched by genetic divergence: A RAPD analysis. Molec. Ecol. 8: 627–632. In this paper, Gómez-Pompa and his colleagues perform a RAPD analysis on four different populations of two morphologically distinct populations of chicozapote (Manilkara zapota) to test for any genetic components that contributed to its variation between their forest and swamp habitats.

Gomez-Pompa, A. 1999. La conservacion de la biodiversidad en Mexico: mitos y realidades: mitos y realidades. Bol. Soc. Bot. Mexico. 63: 33–41. Gómez-Pompa writes a reflection on the problems of conservation in Mexico and what changes need to be done to better the system.

Whikus, R., M. de la Cruz, L. Mota-Bravo, A. Gomez-Pompa. 1998. Genetic diversity and relationships of wild cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) in southern Mexico. Theoret. And Appl. Genet. 96: 621–627. In this paper, by running a RAPD analysis, Gómez-Pompa and his colleagues found that the Maya possibly maintained plants out of their native habitats as it correlates with their early agroforestry practices. They suggest modern attempts to increase cacao germplasms should refer to ancient cultivation sites to look at their earlier genetic diversity.