Leslie Holdridge


Leslie Ransselaer Holdridge was an American botanist and climatologist. He was the son of Samuel Eneas Holdridge and Phebe J. Holmes. He was the father of composer Lee Holdridge as well as the father of Leslie A. Holdridge, Lorena Holdridge, Marbella Holdridge, Marly Holdridge, Marisela Holdridge, Thania Holdridge, John Holdridge, Ida Holdridge, Reuseland Holdridge, Leythy J. Holdridge and youngest son Gregory Holdridge whom he fathered with Costa Rican last life partner Clara Luz Melendez.

Career

In his famous 1947 paper, he defined "life zones" using three indicators:
  1. Mean annual biotemperature
  2. Total annual precipitation
  3. The ratio of mean annual potential evapotranspiration to mean total annual precipitation.
Holdridge participated in the Cinchona Missions, a United States effort to search for natural sources of quinine during World War II.