Scientific journal Soil Biology and Biochemistry has published a virtual special issue devoted to the work of David C. Coleman, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology.

“This Special Issue acknowledges and celebrates the long and tireless contribution that Professor David Coleman has made to the success of Soil Biology & Biochemistry,” wrote chief editor Richard G. Burns of the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, describing Coleman’s role in establishing the journal as one of the most important in its field. He served as an associate editor and then chief editor for over twenty years.

The virtual issue includes thirty-two research papers as well as four other written contributions that appeared in the journal between 1977 and 2010—about one tenth of Coleman’s total scholarly publications. Coleman is also the author of Big Ecology: The Emergence of Ecosystem Science, and, with Mac Callaham, Dac Crossley and Paul Hendrix, the highly influential textbook Fundamentals of Soil Ecology, recently released in its third edition.

Coleman’s academic career began at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory in 1965, followed by fourteen years at Colorado State University as a senior research ecologist with the U.S. International Biological Program Grassland Biome and professor of zoology and entomology. He returned to UGA in 1985 as a professor of ecology, where he remains active as an emeritus member of the faculty.

“Dave Coleman was key to the global reputation of the Institute of Ecology, prior to formation of the Odum School,” said John Gittleman, UGA Foundation Professor in Ecology and dean of the Odum School. “As this publication honors, Dave carried out landmark work in soil biology and biochemistry as well as examined influences of scale and interdisciplinary approaches to big ecological questions.”

The virtual special issue honoring Coleman is available online at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/soil-biology-and-biochemistry/virtual-special-issues/virtual-special-issue-david-colemans-sbb-bibliography.