Maria Léa Salgado-Labouriau

Maria Léa Salgado-Labouriau (2 August 1931 – 13 July 2013) was a Brazilian scientist specialised in palaeobotany whose work in present and past ecology led her to be internationally known in her field. She was an emeritus professor at the University of Brasília (Brazil).

Biography and scientific career Maria Léa was born on 2 August 1931, in Rio de Janeiro, but grew up and spent a good part of her adult life in Minas Gerais. She completed her degree in Natural History at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in 1958, and her PhD in Biological Sciences (Botanics) at the University of São Paulo in 1972. Her research focused on the study of thousands of years old crystallised pollen from plants, spores and microscopic algae found in sediments from the quaternary period in the area of Planalto in the ecoregion of the Cerrado.

In 1974, she joined the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), where she worked as a researcher until 1987.

In 1979, she moved to the United States, where she realised her post-doctoral studies in Palynology, Pollen Morphology and Botanics at the Smithsonian Institution. Then, at the University of Minnesota, she studied Environmental Geology, Stratigraphic Palaeontology and Geographic Climatology. She died on 13 July 2013, aged 81, in Brasília

Contributions and legacy Her main scientific contributions are related to the study of the environment in the high mountains in the Andes range and at the central area of area of Planalto (Cerrado), with insights into climate evolution in the past. She used this knowledge to do more research on the regeneration of the vegetation of the climate. Member of the International Association for Aerobiology (IAA). Director of the Latin American Centre for Biological Sciences (in Spanish, Centro Latinoamericano de Ciencias Biológicas, UNESCO-CLAB). Jabuti Prize for her book História Ecológica da Terra (Ecologic history of Earth), 2001.

Relevant publications Salgado-Labouriau, M. L. Critérios e Técnicas para o Quaternário. São Paulo: Editora Edgard Blücher, 2006. Salgado-Labouriau, M. L. (Org.) El Medio Ambiente Páramo. 1. ed. Caracas: Ediciones CEA/IVIC/UNESCO, 1979. Salgado-Labouriau, M. L. Contribuição à Palinologia dos Cerrados. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Academia Brasil. Ciências, 1973.