Gretchen Lambert (nee Shapiro) was born in Duluth, Minnesota, USA in 1941, and spent a large portion of her childhood at a wilderness fly-in fishing and hunting resort in Ontario, Canada. Her interest in marine biology was ignited in the 1950s when she visited the Florida Keys with her father. Lambert earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota in Zoology in 1963 (magna cum laude). From 1964 to 1965, Lambert worked at the University of Miami Institute of Marine Science in Miami, Florida, USA. In 1965, she moved to the University of Washington to start her Master's Degree in Zoology, which she obtained in 1967. She worked with the influential marine ecologist Robert Paine. During her time at the University of Washington, she met Charles Lambert, who became her partner in life and research. Very early on, Charles convinced her of the experimental advantages of ascidians as research animals. From 1970 to 1998, she and Charles worked at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). Gretchen was a lecturer, a museum coordinator, a laboratory coordinator for introductory biology, a research associate and a senior research associate. She and Charles worked closely together on ascidian ecology and development.

In 1998, she and Charles retired from CSUF and moved to Seattle, Washington, USA. After retirement, the couple continued their research unabated. For most of the 2000s, they spent every summer at the Friday Harbor Laboratories in Washington State, USA. During the spring, summer and fall they worked on manuscripts together. In the 2000s, Gretchen took on an increasing number of leadership positions at the Friday Harbor Laboratories. She co-organized the International Tunicata Meeting twice, and has participated several times in the International Invasive Sea Squirt Conference and the International Conference on Marine Bioinvasions. Lambert has also been an instrumental editor of WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species), which is the definitive species list for ascidians. Since 1975, she has written “Ascidian News” twice a year. “Ascidian News” provides the ascidian community with research updates, conference abstracts, and citations for new publications.

For the last 45 years, Lambert has been one of the world's most active ascidian taxonomists. She has done taxonomic consulting for the Coral Reef Research Foundation, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and fisheries departments in Australia, Canada, Singapore, and the United States. She has been on 21 taxonomic expeditions since 2003, focusing on the Eastern Pacific region but also in Guam, the Northeastern U.S., Florida, the Gulf Coast, the Caribbean, the English Channel and Singapore. Since 2001, she has organized and taught at least 25 workshops, training hundreds of researchers in ascidian taxonomy and identification. Lambert has closely mentored Jenn Dijkstra, a Research Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire, and Lauren Stefaniak, an Assistant Professor at Coastal Carolina University.

Since 1968, Gretchen Lambert has published 82 articles and is still publishing. Her first article, from her Master's thesis, focused on the succession (change over time) of the species Corella willmeriana in the fouling community, including predation and interspecific competition (Lambert, 1968). This was one of the early papers in the subsequently well-studied field of fouling ascidian ecology. After arriving at CSUF, one of Lambert's major research foci was the ultrastructure of spicule mineralization in several ascidian species including Bathypera feminalba, Cystodytes lobatus, Herdmania momus, and Pyura pachydermatina (Lambert, 1979; Lambert, 1992; Lambert, 1998; Lambert & Lambert, 1987; Lambert & Lambert, 1996; Lambert & Lambert, 1997; Lambert, Lambert, & Lowenstam, 1989).

A second major research focus was regional ascidian biodiversity. Lambert wrote the Class Ascidiacea chapter of the Taxonomic Atlas of the Benthic Fauna of the Santa Maria Basin and Western Santa Barbara Channel (Lambert, 1996). She co-authored multiple Class Ascidiacea chapters of The Light and Smith's Manual of Intertidal Invertebrates from Central California to Oregon, updated most recently in 2007 (Abbott, Lambert, Lambert, & Newberry, 2007). She also co-authored, with Charles Lambert and Eugene Kozloff, the Phylum Urochordata chapter in Marine Invertebrates of the Pacific Northwest (Lambert, Lambert, & Kozloff, 1996). Finally, she edited a book series on the Reef and Shore Fauna of Hawaii (Abbott, Newberry, & Morris, 1997). Lambert's other research interests during her time at CSUF were ascidian life history (Lambert, Lambert, & Lambert, 1995), algal symbionts of ascidians (Lambert, Lambert, & Waaland, 1996), and phylogenetic implications of morphological characters such as tunic cuticular protrusions (Hirose, Lambert, Kusakabe, & Nishikawa, 1997).

In the mid-1990s, the Lamberts started to systematically track the non-native ascidian species in harbors and marinas in southern California. They visited over 30 marinas in the fall and spring each year from 1994 to 1998, and noted the abundance of each species. These surveys provided a critical baseline for future studies of non-native ascidians in the area, as well as valuable information about salinity and temperature tolerances in these species (Lambert & Lambert, 1998; Lambert & Lambert, 2003).

Since 2000, Lambert has focused much of her attention on the spread of nonindigenous ascidian species across the globe, identifying Corella eumyota in France (Lambert, 2004), Perophora japonica in California (Lambert, 2005), Molgula ficus in California (Lambert, 2007), Molgula citrina in Alaska (Lambert, Shenkar, & Swalla, 2010), Botrylloides giganteus in the Mediterranean and Pacific (Rocha et al., 2019), and Ascidiella aspersa in California (Nydam, Nichols, & Lambert, 2022). Lambert led the global collaborative effort to identify the rapidly spreading ascidian Didemnum vexillum (Bullard et al., 2007; Griffith et al., 2009; Lambert, 2009; Stefaniak et al., 2009; Tagliapietra, Keppel, Sigovini, & Lambert, 2012). She also participated in numerous rapid assessment surveys of harbors and marinas in Hawaii (Godwin & Lambert, 2000), Guam (Lambert, 2003a, 2003b) (Figure 1), the Gulf of Mexico (Lambert, Faulkes, Lambert, & Scofield, 2005), England (Arenas et al., 2006), Panama (Carman et al., 2011), Singapore (Lee, Teo, & Lambert, 2013), North Carolina (Villalobos, Lambert, Shenkar, & López-Legentil, 2017), the Galapagos (Lambert, 2019a, 2019b), the Madeira Archipelago (Ramalhosa, Gestoso, Rocha, Lambert, & Canning-Clode, 2021), and Puerto Rico (Streit, Lambert, Erwin, & López-Legentil, 2021). She also cataloged the native biodiversity in Alaska (Lambert & Sanamyan, 2001), British Columbia (Lambert, 2019a, 2019b) and Singapore (Lambert, Lee, & Teo, 2021; Lee, Chan, Teo, & Lambert, 2016).

Lambert has described four new ascidian species. From the Pacific Ocean, Trididemnum alexi that she named for her grandson (Lambert, 2003a, 2003b), Eudistoma purpuropunctatum (Lambert, 1989), and Distaplia alaskensis (Lambert & Sanamyan, 2001). From the Red Sea, she described Boltenia yossiloya (Shenkar & Lambert, 2010). In addition, Lambert has been honored by other researchers, who have named three species after her: Ascidia lambertae from the Pacific (Monniot, 2007), Corynascidia lambertae from the Weddell Sea in Antarctica (Sanamyan & Sanamyan, 2002), and Didemnum lambertae from the Atlantic (Rocha, Neves, & Gamba, 2015). The Lamberts were honored together in the name Botryllus lambertorum from the Caribbean (Palomino-Alvarez, Nydam, Rocha, & Simões, 2022).

Lambert's (1997) paper on tunic cuticular protrusions (Hirose et al., 1997), co-authored with Euichi Hirose, Takehiro Kusakabe, and Teruaki Nishikawa, received the Paper of the Year Award by the Japanese Society of Zoologists. In 2017, she received the Tunicate Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 9th International Tunicate Meeting in New York City.

格雷琴·兰伯特（娘家姓夏皮罗）1941 年出生于美国明尼苏达州德卢斯，童年的大部分时间是在加拿大安大略省的荒野飞翔钓鱼和狩猎胜地度过的。20 世纪 50 年代，当她与父亲一起参观佛罗里达群岛时，她对海洋生物学的兴趣被点燃。Lambert 于 1963 年以优异成绩获得明尼苏达大学动物学文学学士学位。1964年至1965年，兰伯特在美国佛罗里达州迈阿密的迈阿密大学海洋科学研究所工作。1965年，她转到华盛顿大学开始攻读动物学硕士学位，并于1967年获得该学位。她与颇具影响力的海洋生态学家罗伯特·潘恩一起工作。在华盛顿大学期间，她结识了查尔斯·兰伯特，后者成为她生活和研究的伙伴。查尔斯很早就让她相信海鞘作为研究动物的实验优势。1970 年至 1998 年，她和查尔斯在加州州立大学富勒顿分校 (CSUF) 工作。格雷琴曾担任讲师、博物馆协调员、生物学导论实验室协调员、研究员和高级研究员。她和查尔斯在海鞘生态和发育方面密切合作。

1998年，她和查尔斯从CSUF退休，搬到美国华盛顿州西雅图。退休后，夫妇俩继续进行研究。在 2000 年代的大部分时间里，他们每年夏天都在美国华盛顿州的星期五港实验室度过。在春天、夏天和秋天，他们一起写手稿。2000 年代，Gretchen 在星期五港实验室担任越来越多的领导职务。她两次共同组织了国际被囊动物会议，并多次参加国际入侵海鞘会议和国际海洋生物入侵会议。兰伯特还是《蠕虫》（世界海洋物种名录）的重要编辑，该书是海鞘的权威物种名录。自1975年起，她每年撰写两期《海鞘新闻》。“海鞘新闻”为海鞘界提供研究更新、会议摘要和新出版物的引文。

过去 45 年来，兰伯特一直是世界上最活跃的海鞘分类学家之一。她曾为珊瑚礁研究基金会、史密森尼环境研究中心以及澳大利亚、加拿大、新加坡和美国的渔业部门提供分类学咨询。自 2003 年以来，她已经进行了 21 次分类学考察，重点关注东太平洋地区，但也去过关岛、美国东北部、佛罗里达州、墨西哥湾沿岸、加勒比海、英吉利海峡和新加坡。自 2001 年以来，她组织并讲授了至少 25 个研讨会，培训了数百名海鞘分类和鉴定研究人员。兰伯特曾密切指导新罕布什尔大学研究副教授 Jenn Dijkstra 和卡罗莱纳海岸大学助理教授 Lauren Stefaniak。

自 1968 年以来，Gretchen Lambert 已发表了 82 篇文章，并且仍在发表。她的第一篇文章来自她的硕士论文，重点关注污垢群落中 Corella willmeriana物种的演替（随时间的变化） ，包括捕食和种间竞争（Lambert， 1968）。这是随后深入研究的污损海鞘生态学领域的早期论文之一。到达 CSUF 后，Lambert 的主要研究重点之一是几个海鞘物种的针状矿化的超微结构，包括Bathypera feminalba、Cystodytes lobatus、Herdmania momus和Pyura pachydermatina (Lambert,  1979 ; Lambert,  1992 ; Lambert,  1998 ; Lambert & Lambert ，  1987 年；兰伯特和兰伯特，  1996 年；兰伯特和兰伯特，  1997 年；兰伯特、兰伯特和洛温斯坦，  1989 年）。

第二个主要研究重点是区域海鞘生物多样性。兰伯特撰写了《圣玛丽亚盆地和西圣巴巴拉海峡底栖动物分类图集》的海鞘纲一章（兰伯特，  1996）。她与人合着了《The Light》和《史密斯潮间带无脊椎动物手册》（从加利福尼亚州中部到俄勒冈州）的多个海鞘纲章节，最新更新于 2007 年（Abbott、Lambert、Lambert 和 Newberry，  2007 年）。她还与 Charles Lambert 和 Eugene Kozloff 共同撰写了《太平洋西北地区海洋无脊椎动物》中的尾索动物门章节（Lambert、Lambert 和 Kozloff，  1996）。最后，她编辑了关于夏威夷珊瑚礁和海岸动物群的系列丛书（Abbott、Newberry 和 Morris，  1997 年）。Lambert 在 CSUF 期间的其他研究兴趣包括海鞘生活史（Lambert、Lambert 和 Lambert，  1995）、海鞘的藻类共生体（Lambert、Lambert 和 Waaland，  1996）以及形态特征（例如外衣角质层突起）的系统发育意义（Hirose、Lambert、Kusakabe 和 Nishikawa，  1997 年）。

20 世纪 90 年代中期，兰伯特夫妇开始系统地追踪南加州港口和码头的非本地海鞘物种。从 1994 年到 1998 年，他们每年秋季和春季都会参观 30 多个码头，并注意到每个物种的丰富程度。这些调查为该地区非本地海鞘的未来研究提供了关键基线，并提供了有关这些物种的盐度和温度耐受性的宝贵信息（Lambert & Lambert，  1998；Lambert & Lambert，  2003）。

自 2000 年以来，Lambert 将大部分注意力集中在非本地海鞘物种在全球范围内的传播上，识别出法国的 Corella eumyota （Lambert， 2004 年）、加利福尼亚州的 Perophora japonica （Lambert， 2005 年）、加利福尼亚州的Molgula ficus （Lambert， 2007 年））、阿拉斯加的Molgula citrina（Lambert、Shenkar 和 Swalla，  2010）、地中海和太平洋的Botrylloides giganteus（Rocha 等人，  2019）以及加利福尼亚州的 Ascidiella aspersa （Nydam、Nichols 和 Lambert， 2022）。Lambert 领导了全球协作工作，以识别快速传播的海鞘Didemnum vexillum（Bullard 等人，  2007 年；Griffith 等人，  2009 年；Lambert，  2009 年；Stefaniak 等人，  2009 年；Tagliapietra、Keppel、Sigovini 和 Lambert，  2012 年） ）。她还参加了对夏威夷（Godwin & Lambert，  2000）、关岛（Lambert，  2003a、2003b）（图 1）、墨西哥湾（Lambert、Faulkes、Lambert 和 Scofield，  2005 ）的港口和码头的多次快速评估调查。 ）、英格兰（Arenas 等人，  2006）、巴拿马（Carman 等人，  2011）、新加坡（Lee、Teo 和 Lambert，  2013）、北卡罗来纳州（Villalobos、Lambert、Shenkar 和 López-Legentil，  2017） 、加拉帕戈斯群岛（Lambert，  2019a、2019b）、马德拉群岛（Ramalhosa、Gestoso、Rocha、Lambert 和 Canning-Clode，  2021）和波多黎各（Streit、Lambert、Erwin 和 López-Legentil，  2021）。她还对阿拉斯加（Lambert 和 Sanamyan，  2001）、不列颠哥伦比亚省（Lambert，  2019a、2019b）和新加坡（Lambert、Lee 和 Teo，  2021；Lee、Chan、Teo 和 Lambert，  2016）的本地生物多样性进行了编目。

兰伯特描述了四种新的海鞘物种。来自太平洋的Trididemnum alexi（她以她的孙子的名字命名）（Lambert，  2003a，2003b）、Eudistoma purpuropunctatum（Lambert，  1989）和Distaplia alaskensis（Lambert & Sanamyan，  2001）。她在红海描述了Boltenia yossiloya（Shenkar & Lambert，  2010）。此外，兰伯特还受到其他研究人员的表彰，他们以她的名字命名了三个物种：来自太平洋的 Ascidia Lambertae （Monniot， 2007年）、来自南极洲威德尔海的 Corynascidia Lambertae （Sanamyan＆Sanamyan， 2002年）和来自南极洲的Didemnum Lambertae大西洋（Rocha、Neves 和 Gamba，  2015）。兰伯特家族被共同命名为来自加勒比海的 Botrylluslambertorum （Palomino-Alvarez、Nydam、Rocha 和 Simões， 2022 年）。

Lambert (1997) 与 Euichi Hirose、Takehiro Kusakabe 和 Teruaki Nishikawa 合着的关于外衣角质层突起的论文（Hirose 等人， 1997 ）获得了日本动物学会颁发的年度论文奖。2017年，她在纽约举行的第九届国际被囊动物会议上获得被囊动物终身成就奖。