Norton George Miller (1942–2011) was an American bryologist and paleobotanist. He was the president of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society from 1985 to 1987.

Biography

Norton G. Miller grew up in the towns of Orchard Park and South Wales south of Buffalo, New York. He roamed the woods with the family dog, became an avid birder, and studied natural history, especially botany, under the mentorship of Mabel Hinde James.^[3][4] He served as her assistant and also became an Eagle Scout.^[3] He graduated in 1959 from Holland Central High School in Erie County, New York^[1] and graduated in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in biology from the University at Buffalo. In 1964 he married Heather Swan. During their marriage of over 47 years, she accompanied him on his bryological collecting trips and collaborated on several scientific projects.^[3] In 1969 he graduated with a Ph.D. in botany from Michigan State University.^[1] As a postdoc, he was an assistant curator at the Arnold Arboretum from 1969 to 1970.^[5] For several years he worked on a research project, the Generic Flora of the Southeastern United States, led by Carroll Emory Wood Jr.

For five and one-half years ending on June 30, 1980, Miller was the supervisor of the Gray and Arnold Arboretum Herbaria and chair of the Herbarium Committee, and then continued on the staff as botanist at the Gray Herbarium and the Arnold Arboretum.^[6] In 1983 he joined the staff of the New York State Museum and eventually retired there as emeritus curator of bryology and Quaternary paleobotany^[1] He was on the editorial boards of ten journals.^[7]

Dr. Miller’s research interests included plant systematics and floristics, especially of bryophytes and seed plants; quaternary paleobotany and paleoecology and the tertiary and quaternary history of the bryophyta. His field work in these areas led him to explorations throughout the northern latitudes from New York and New England to Michigan, Colorado, the west coast, the southeast, Alaska, Russia, Scandinavia, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and Japan. He authored more than 250 scholarly manuscripts, books, book chapters, abstracts, and electronic media ... ^[7]

Upon his death he was survived by his widow, a son, and one granddaughter.^[1] The Adirondack Mountain Club created the Dr. Norton G. Miller Memorial Fund in his honor.^[7]

Selected publications

• Miller, Norton G. (1966). "Noteworthy Hepaticae from New York State". The Bryologist. 69 (1): 115–118. doi:10.2307/3240494. ISSN 0007-2745. JSTOR 3240494.
• Miller, Norton G. (1970). "The Genera of the Cannabaceae in the Southeastern United States". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 51 (2): 185–203. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.7039. JSTOR 43774272.
• Miller, Norton G. (1971). "The Genera of the Urticaceae in the Southeastern United States". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 52 (1): 40–68. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.9110. JSTOR 43781714.
• Miller, Norton G. (1971). "The Polygalaceae in the Southeastern United States". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 52 (2): 267–284. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.9114. JSTOR 43781726.
• Miller, Norton G. (1973). "Lateglacial Plants and Plant Communities in Northwestern New York State". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 54 (2): 123–159. doi:10.5962/p.324708. JSTOR 43781763. S2CID 240313004.
• Miller, Norton G. (1976). "Studies on North American Quaternary Bryophyte Subfossils I. A New Moss Assemblage from the Two Creeks Forest Bed of Wisconsin". Occasional Papers of the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany (9): 21–42. doi:10.5962/p.305840. JSTOR 41753109.
• Miller, Norton G.; Howe Ambrose, L. J. (1976). "Growth in Culture of Wind-Blown Bryophyte Gametophyte Fragments from Arctic Canada". The Bryologist. 79 (1): 55–63. doi:10.2307/3241866. JSTOR 3241866.
• Solberg, Robert M.; Miller, Norton G. (1979). "A Floristic Catalog of Battle Park, University of North Carolina Campus, Chapel Hill. I. Bryophyta". Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society. 95 (1): 1–16. JSTOR 24333259.
• Mishler, Brent D.; Miller, Norton G. (1983). "Distributional Studies of Massachusetts Bryophytes". Rhodora. 85 (844): 421–432. JSTOR 23311078.
• Jackson, Stephen T.; Miller, Norton G. (1983). "Paleoecology of a Fossil Plant Assemblage from a Pre-Wisconsinan till in Southern Illinois". The American Midland Naturalist. 109 (1): 120–135. doi:10.2307/2425522. JSTOR 2425522.
• Miller, Norton G.; Alpert, Peter (1984). "Plant associations and edaphic features of a high arctic mesotopographic setting." Arctic and Alpine Research". Arctic and Alpine Research. 16 (1): 11–23. doi:10.1080/00040851.1984.12004387.
• Miller, Norton G. (1989). "Late-Pleistocene Anthelia (Hepaticae), an arctic-alpine, snow-bed indicator at a low elevation site in Massachusetts, U.S.A.". Journal of Bryology. 15 (3): 583–588. doi:10.1179/jbr.1989.15.3.583.
• Miller, Norton G. (1993). "Modern research with bryophytes: An overview". Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club. 25 (1): 1–10. JSTOR 43390659.
• Miller, Norton G.; McKinley, Daniel (1997). "Nomenclatural Status of the Moss Grevilleanum serratum, with Notes on the Early 18th Century American Scientists, L. C. Beck and E. Emmons, Senior". The Bryologist. 100 (2): 198–203. doi:10.2307/3244049. JSTOR 3244049.
• McDaniel, Stuart F.; Miller, Norton G. (2000). "Winter Dispersal of Bryophyte Fragments in the Adirondack Mountains, New York". The Bryologist. 103 (3): 592. doi:10.1639/0007-2745(2000)103[0592:WDOBFI]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0007-2745. S2CID 86453894.
• Miller, Norton G.; McDaniel, Stuart F. (2004). "Bryophyte dispersal inferred from colonization of an introduced substratum on Whiteface Mountain, New York". American Journal of Botany. 91 (8): 1173–1182. doi:10.3732/ajb.91.8.1173. PMID 21653473.
• Miller, Norton G. (2005). "The bryoflora of Mt. Everett, Taconic Mountains, Massachusetts". Rhodora. 107 (929): 34–51. doi:10.3119/04-13.1. S2CID 84952581.
• Miller, Norton G.; Fryday, Alan M.; Hinds, James W. (2005). "Bryophytes and lichens of a calcium-rich spring seep isolated on the granitic terrain of Mt. Katahdin, Maine, U.S.A.". Rhodora. 107 (932): 339–358. doi:10.3119/05-7.1. S2CID 86815840.
• Miller, Norton G. (2009). "Mosses Adventive and Naturalized in the Northeastern United States: New Examples and New Distributional Records". Rhodora. 111 (946): 218–230. doi:10.3119/08-7.1. S2CID 86348583.
• Feranec, Robert S.; Miller, Norton G.; Lothrop, Jonathan C.; Graham, Russell W. (2011). "The Sporormiella proxy and end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction: A perspective". Quaternary International. 245 (2): 333–338. Bibcode:2011QuInt.245..333F. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.06.004.
• Teale, Chelsea L.; Miller, Norton G. (2012). "Mastodon herbivory in mid-latitude late-Pleistocene boreal forests of eastern North America". Quaternary Research. 78 (1): 72–81. Bibcode:2012QuRes..78...72T. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2012.04.002. S2CID 129603984.
• Robinson, Sean C.; Miller, Norton G. (2013). "Bryophyte diversity on Adirondack alpine summits is maintained by dissemination and establishment of vegetative fragments and spores". The Bryologist. 116 (4): 382–391. doi:10.1639/0007-2745-116.4.382. S2CID 86339730.
• Miller, Norton G.; Robinson, Sean C. (2015). "Bryophytes of Martha's Vineyard and Nomans Land, Massachusetts, USA". Rhodora. 117 (972): 431–453. doi:10.3119/15-09. S2CID 88244009.

References