biology

Mary Elizabeth Elliott

Mary Elizabeth Elliott is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mary Elizabeth Elliott rather than just read about it. In short: Mary Elizabeth Elliott (December 10, 1923 – September 10, 1976) was a Canadian plant pathologist and mycologist who spent 28 years with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She was known for her work on the taxonomy and physiology of the Sclerotiniaceae; she was also knowledgeable in the identification of mushrooms, a service she offered regularly to the public, and served as president of the Canadian Botanical Associa…

Key takeaways

Mary Elizabeth Elliott belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mary Elizabeth Elliott to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mary Elizabeth Elliott from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mary Elizabeth Elliott (December 10, 1923 – September 10, 1976) was a Canadian plant pathologist and mycologist who spent 28 years with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She was known for her work on the taxonomy and physiology of the Sclerotiniaceae; she was also knowledgeable in the identification of mushrooms, a service she offered regularly to the public, and served as president of the Canadian Botanical Association.

Education Elliott was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her family moved shortly after to Ottawa where she lived for the rest of her life. Elliott attended Ottawa schools before attending Queen's University, where she obtained her B.A. in biology in 1949.

Career In 1946, Elliott was assigned to work as a technician with J.W. Groves at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa. She worked in the division of Botany and Plant Pathology on the mycological side of their research on seed-borne diseases. This was major research during World War II as there was a shortage of quality seed. She took mycology and microbiology courses at Queen’s University during this time to support her work. Her work with the Division of Botany and Plant Pathology lasted about 10 years before transferring to the Mycology unit. She expanded her studies to cereal diseases and started to gain expertise in the biology and taxonomy of Sclerotineaceae. Her studies on Sclerotiniaceae included her own taxonomic work in addition to physiological and developmental work started by Drayton and Groves. Along with Dr. J.W. Groves, she published a series of articles describing new species of Stromatinia, Streptotinia, and reported the sexual behaviour of other genera in the Sclerotiniaceae. Elliott applied for a leave of absence to further her education and pursue graduate studies at this time but her request was rejected. She joined the Mycological Society of America in 1958 and was also a member of the Mycological Society of Japan and the Canadian Phytopathological Society. Elliott was actively involved in community service where she would identify fungi for the public, provide toxicology information when there were poisonings related to fungi and identify the species that caused the poisoning. She worked to maintain an informed public by contributing to and editing (1970-71) "Greenhouse-Garden-Grass", an Institute publication for the layman. In 1975, she became curator of the National Mycological Herbarium (DAOM). As curator, Mary worked to ensure that the storehouse of mycological information would aid staff mycologists and visiting scientists studying the taxonomy, morphology, life history, distribution, and range of hosts or substrates. In 1972 Elliott accepted the position of secretary of the Canadian Botanical Association (CBA), she was successively nominated Vice-President in 1974, and President in 1975. She was just beginning her term as Past President at the time of her death.

Death and legacy Elliott died on September 10, 1976, in a homicide by an emotionally disturbed youth whom she had been helping. The Mary Elliott Service Award is given to an individual for meritorious service to the CBA. It was first awarded in 1978 in memory of Elliott's contributions and untimely passing.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary Elizabeth Elliott

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary Elizabeth Elliott claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mary Elizabeth Elliott before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mary Elizabeth Elliott ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mary Elizabeth Elliott

In research: Mary Elizabeth Elliott appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mary Elizabeth Elliott in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mary Elizabeth Elliott is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 1976 deaths, 20th-century Canadian biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary Elizabeth Elliott outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mary Elizabeth Elliott in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mary Elizabeth Elliott means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mary Elizabeth Elliott out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary Elizabeth Elliott in simple terms?

Why does Mary Elizabeth Elliott matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mary Elizabeth Elliott?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mary Elizabeth Elliott.