Carr, Stella Grace Maisie (1912-1988), was an Australian botanist and ecologist . One of her greatest achievements revealed how overgrazing affects plant life and leads to soil erosion . Overgrazing occurs when too many animals graze an area or when the animals stay in one place too long. The grasses then die and are replaced by weeds or plants that provide poor pasture for livestock.
Stella Grace Maisie Fawcett was born in Footscray, just outside of Melbourne , Australia, on Feb. 26, 1912. Growing up around the gardens of her parents and grandmother, she developed an early love of plants. Fawcett received a B.S. degree in botany in 1935 and an M.S. degree in 1936, both from the University of Melbourne. She taught botany at the university until 1941, when she suffered a head injury. She then performed ecological research for the university. She also studied soil erosion for the Soil Conservation Board of the state of Victoria, becoming a pioneer in soil erosion research. She also became an expert on the ecology of alpine (mountainous) Australia. In 1949, Fawcett became a lecturer in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Botany. She became a senior lecturer in 1952. In 1955, Fawcett married D. J. Carr, a fellow senior lecturer in the Department of Botany at the university.
Stella Carr wrote The Families and Genera of Victorian Plants (1949). With her husband, she studied eucalyptus trees. These trees are native to Australia and are economically important for their oil, gum, and timber. Together, the Carrs published over 50 scientific papers and two books. Stella Carr died on Sept. 9, 1988.
