People to know

Stephen Forbes

"The founder of the science of ecology in the United States" First Chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey, a founder of aquatic ecosystem science. "The Lake as a Microcosm"

H.G. Andrewartha

(and Birch) were in the density-dependent forces school of population regulation (stating that biotic interactions play a minor importance in determining abundance/distribution of species). Claimed that density-independent forces (weather) are the dominant force.

Asa Gray

19th century American botanist. Wrote Gray's Manual, a popular US botanical guide. Wrote Darwiniana, said religion and science not mutually exclusive.

August Weismann

19th century evolutionary biologist. Germ plasm theory - germ cells in multicellular organisms are the only avenue of inheritance. Essential to the modern synthesis of the early 20th century.

Peter and Rosemary Grant

A couple that has dedicated their careers to studying the evolution and ecology of Darwin finches in the Galapagos. Known mostly for their work on Darwin finches, used as a textbook example for adaptive radiation and character displacement

G.G. Simpson

A founder of evolutionary synthesis. Paleontologist that demonstrated that the fossil record (largely mammals) supported Darwins theory of natural selection (e.g. " tree of life has many branches leading off to extinction"). Described how microevolution could be used to explain macroevolution processes. Introduced in the book Temp and Mode that the rate of evolution varied and that this could result in different patterns of evolution in fossil record.

Theodosius Dobzhansky

Central figure in proposing Modern Evolutionary Synthesis

Ellen Swallow Richards

Chemist who likely created and taught the first ecology curriculum in the US. Perhaps she introduced the term "ecology" into the english language (From Ernst Haeckel's "oekologie"). Known for using water samples to determine water quality. Founder of American Association of University Women

Richard Levins

Coined term metapopulation, also famous book evolution in changing environments

Hugo deVries

Coined the term "mutation" to describe experimental varieties of evening primrose. He came to the same conclusions as Mendel for the laws of heredity, suggested the concept of genes, and was the first to suggest that recombination occurred between homologous chromosomes. Developed a mutation theory of evolution.

Bruce Menge

Community ecologist, effects of predation and competition on diversity. Ocean ecologist studying structure and dynamics of marine ecosystems, including linking benthic and pelagic processes. Has worked on ocean acidification. Highly cited for work on keystones and recruitment dynamics in the ocean.

Michael Soule

Considered the grandfather of conservation biology.

A.H. Sturtevant

Constructed the first genetic map of a chromosome in 1913. Coulge of TH Morgan. Worked with Drosophila . Discoveries include the principle of genetic mapping, the first reparable gene defect, the principle of underlying fate mapping, the phenomena of unequal crossing-over, and position effect. Documented genetic "linkage groups."

Geoffrey Parker

Contributed to the idea of sexual conflict and its role in the evolution of sexes (with Richard Dawkins and Robert Trivers). Worked with dung beetles.

Joan Roughgarden

Criticisms of sexual selection, not always as simple as female choice and male competition

Carl Woese

Defined the archaea using the taxonomy of 16S ribosomal RNA. Origniated the idea of the RNA world hypothesis (self-replicating RNA molecules proliferated before the evolution of DNA and proteins).

David Lack

Developed Lacks principal (the clutch size of each species of bird has been adapted by natural selection to correspond with the largest number of young for which the parents can, on average, provide enough food). Person who liked Darwin to his finches with his 1947 book "Darwin's Finches"

Eugene P. Odum

Developed the ecosystem concept and laid it out in his book Fundamentals of Ecology (1953) -- "The ecosystem is greater than the sum of its parts." Described succession (including role of animals) as a deterministic process.

Eric L. Charnov

Developed the marginal value theorem (an optimality model) which describes optimal foraging where resources are patchily distributed and consumer moves between patches. Can also be applied when organisms experience diminishing returns. Also known for contributions to life history evolution, specifically addressing the trade-off between offspring size and number AND life history theory (sex allocation and allometric scaling).

George Williams

Developed theory behind antagonistic pleiotrophy and it functioning as an evolutionary explanation for senescence. Wrote Adaptation and Natural Selection, which was built upon by Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (selection at gene-level).

C.H. Waddington

Developed theory of genetic assimilation (fly wing vein thing). Idea of the the epigenetic landscape a metaphor for how gene regulation modulates development.

Christine Nusslein-Vollhard

Discovered the roll of the homeobox genes (coding for transcription factors critically involved in early body development) in drosphilia embryonic development. Especially prominent for work on development of segments of fly. Current understanding is that homeobox genes are found in all metazoans, and usually have similar roles in body segmentation.

Monica Turner

Ecologist whose research on fires in Yellowstone gave insight into vegetation dynamics concerning changing disturbance regimes, vertebrate grazing, and soil-microbe nutrient interactions.

E.C. Pielou

Evelyn Chris Pielou wrote an amazing book called After the ice age: the return of life to glaciated North america. Known for her contributions to biogeography (wrote a book called Biogeography). Best known for her quantitative appropace to ecological research and her book Introduction to Mathematical Ecology (1969), which is thought to have shifted the direction of ecological research. Developed an estimate of biodiversity called Pielou's evenness index and mathematical models describing spatial patterns for regional to continential scale.

Emilia Martins

Evolution of complex behavioral traits (specifically in lizards and fish). She's interested in how microevolutionary processes translate to macroevolutionary patterns.

David M. Hillis

Evolutionary biologist and phylogeneticist. Instrumental in the development of molecular methods for phylogenetics. Inverter of the Hillis plot (aka the circular phylogeny)

Alfred J. Lotka

Famous for his work in population dynamics and energetics. Proposed of the predator-prey model, developed simultaneously but independently of Vito Volterra. Also very into biometry and biostatistics

Robert T. Paine

Famous marine community ecologist. Proposed the idea of Keystone species and the term trophic cascades.

Joe Felsenstein

Felsenstein is considered the father of modern phylogenetics. He's developed multiple models like Max Likelihood and brought up the idea of long branch attraction.

Charles Elton

First discovered/explained the lynx and hare population dynamics. Associated with the establishment of modern population and community ecology, including studies of invasive organisms. Established the Bureau of Animal Population at Oxford, which became a centre for the collection of data on fluctuations in animal populations. Worked to turn natural history from hobby to science.

Charles Darwin

First proposer of a mechanism for explaining speciation. Also contributed an immense amount of natural history observations on several species from multiple taxa

G. E. Hutchinson

Formalized the concept of niche by incorporating many resource axes (species exist in environmental space with a fundamental volume that they can survive, excluding other species). Defined fundamental niche as a range of conditions that species can occur in, in the absence of biotic interactions. AND defined the realized niche as the range of conditions where species actually occurs (presumably because of biotic interactions or history/biogeography). Also known for Hutchinsonian ratios (raios of 1.3 between coexisting species pairs) which spurred the development of null models in ecology.

Georges Cuvier

Founder of paleontology and expanded linnaean taxonomy to include fossils. Established that extinction happens (via his 1796 paper on living and fossil elephants) and can be explained by catastrophic events in geological time. Opposed theories of evolution, "life forms do no evolve over time" and tried to explain paleontological phenomenon with the Bible (used later to support Creationism). Cuvier perceived the fossil record to include abrupt appearance of forms that persisted unchanged until their extinction.

Willi Hennig

Founder of phylogenetic systematics (cladistics).

Niles Eldredge

Gould's colleague. Also involved in punctuated equilibrium

J.B.S. Haldane

Haldane worked on describing linkage in mice and guinea pigs. One of three (with Fisher and Wright) to develop the mathematical theory of population genetics. He pioneered the interaction of natural selection with mutation and animal migration. He proposed the first methods using maximum likelihood for the estimation of human linkage maps; pioneering methods for estimating human mutation rates. Proposed Haldane's principle of allometry (large sized animals need complex mechanisms to transport oxygen), the idea of abiogenesis (the ocean was a big soup of inorganic compounds that eventually became self replicating nucleotides and eventually became the first cells. Also called primordial soup theory or the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis), and Haldane's rule (the heterogametic sex in hybrids shows reduced viability and/or fecundity).

Richard Klein

His primary thesis is that modern humans evolved in East Africa some 100,000 years ago and, starting 50,000 years ago, began spreading throughout the non-African world, replacing archaic human populations over time.

E.B. Ford

His work focuses on ecological genetics (wrote the book Ecological genetics...). First to define genetic polymorphisms. Supervisor of Kettlewell who did experiments with the evolution of melanism in peppered moths(Biston betularia). His work on lepidoptera supported R.A. Fisher's pop gen predictions.

Hubbard Brook

Hubbard Brook experimental forest (Long-term ecological research site) used for long term terrestrial ecosystem studies.

Ronald Fisher

In addition to being probably the greatest statistician ever, he also invented experimental design and was one of the principal founders of population genetics. He unified the disconnected concepts of natural selection and Mendel's rules of inheritance. The importance of his book Statistical Methods for Research Workers in quantitative biology has been likened to that of Isaac Newton's Principia in physics.

Julian Huxley

Involved in modern evolutionary synthesis

Aldo Leopold

Key figure in conservation biology, espy in the US. Provided environmental ethics foundation on which much current work rests, arguing behavior which protects age hath and integrity of ecosystems is ethical, while behavior damaging to the environment is unethical. Advocates top down ecosystem regulation in terrestrial system, believes predator eradication is bad idea.

E. O. Wilson

Know for expertise with ants. Formulated the controversial theory of sociobiology (seeks to explain much of human society and special behavior via evolution). Worked with MacArthur to formulate Species area Concept and Island BioGeography. Champion for biodiversity and preserving the natural world

Georgii F. Gause

Known for competitive exclusion principles, supported by experiments with Paramecium species.

Jerry Coyne

Known for his work on speciation in Drosophila. Influential book "speciation" and huge critic of intelligent design.

Vito Volterra

Mathematical ecology. Worked on the Lotak-Volterra equation.

Hal Caswell

Matrix population models, incorporating demography and /demographic and environmental stochasticity.

Ilkka Hanski

Modeled how species respond to habitat loss. Used long-term data set and mathematical modeling to develop metapopulation theory (building off of Richard Levins concept of metapopulations). Metapop theory then used to predict what level of habitat fragmentation would result in species extinction. Developed incidence-function model that describes the relationship between area and patch isolation and estimates the likelihood of a patch being occupied by a particular species.

Tomoko Ohta

Most famous for her work on Nearly Neutral Theory of molecular evolution, but she also worked with her mentor, Kimura, on the Neutral Theory.

B. Rensch

One of the architects of the modern synthesis, popularized it in Germany.

Carl Huffaker

One of the first entomologists to study the use of DDT to control mosquito populations. Fundamental in the development of integrated pest management. Also did the classic orange-mite metapopulation experiment to show that spatial heterogeneity could allow for persistence of simple 1 predator-1 prey system.

Arthur Tansley

One of the first self-proclaimed ecologists, botanist. Of the "realist" school which emphasized the importance of data over that of "ideals."

G.L. Stebbins

One of the founders of modern evolutionary synthesis. Evolutionary biologist and botanist.

David Jablonski

Paleo-biologist, studying mass extinctions in the fossil record, especially Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event (K-T aka big asteroid, dead dinos) suggesting that rare but influential mass extinction events can shape the evolution of species. Also works in evolutionary novelties and the tropics as a source for biographic distributions

Sewall Wright

Pioneered population genetics, one of the three responsible for modern evolutionary synthesis. Worked with guinea pigs. Drift model with Fisher (Wright-Fisher population model). Wright's Adaptive landscapes (shifting balance theory)

J. Harper

Plant population ecologist. Linked demography and selection. An author of our ecology textbook... (Ecology: from individuals to ecosystems). Introduced the ideas of seed banks/dispersal/recruitment/dormancy, plant pop dynamics (as a function of births and deaths of individuals), demography, resource allocation and plant life histories.

Motoo Kimura

Pop. geneticist. Responsible for model of drift and Neutral Theory.

Charles Lyell

Popularized Hutton's theory of uniformitarianism. Conjectured on the origin of volcanoes and earthquakes. Believed that the earth was old, but of a finite age. Close friend of Darwin, helping to inspire some of "origin" and the meeting of Darwin and Wallace

Henry Cowles

Primary succession (in Indiana sand dunes) first documented by Cowles

Rachel Carson

SILENT SPRING!!!!!!! badass marine ecologist and writer, alerted the public to the widespread abuse and harmful effects of DDT and other pesticides

Richard Dawkins

Selfish gene: genes that are passed on are the ones whose evolutionary consequences serve their own implicit interest in being replicated, not necessarily those of the organism. The extended phenotype: phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment.

Barbara McClintock

Studied chromosomes and how they change during reproduction in maize. Developed the idea of genetic recombination by crossing-over during meiosis. She produced the first genetic map for maize, linking regions of the chromosome to physical traits. Discovered transposition and used it to demonstrate that genes are responsible for turning physical characteristics on and off. Worked at Cold Springs Harbor

David M. Raup

Studied the fossil record and the diversity of life on Earth. Contributed to the knowledge of extinction events along with Jack Sepkoski. Tother they suggested that the extinction of dinosaurs 66 mya was part of a cycle of mass extinctions that may have occurred every 26 million years

David Tilman

Studies the role of resource competition in community structure and on the role of biodiversity in ecosystem functioning. Proposed the "diversity-stability hypothesis", suggesting that the more diverse an ecosystem, the more stable it is to disturbance (from empirical work on grasslands). Importance of resource ratios post disturbance.

Daniel Janzen

Tropical biologist who has worked on studying mutualism between plants an animals (Acacia-ant), tropical habitat restoration ( integrated reserved system Área de Conservación Guanacaste in Costa Rica), and developed the idea of ecological filtering (organism from new associates in a novel environment as a result fo the traits they cary at the time of their introduction). With Connell, the Janson-Connell hypothesis, which stipulates that diversity of toroidal trees is because of inhospitable conditions for seedling near a parent tree. Proponent of IDH

J.P. Grime

Universal adaptive strategy theory. CSR (competitor, stress tolerator, ruderal) triangle theory. Describes a three-way tradeoff (between growth, maintenance, or regeneration) and adaptive strategies (for plants) in high or low intensities of stress/disturbance.

Fredric Clements

Viewed succession as always reaching a predictable climax community (i.e. fixed succession of species; communities act as "superorganisms" and developmental stages in that community must occur in order for community to progress).

Brian Charlesworth

Worked extensively on understanding sequence evolution, using the fruit fly as a model species, and has also contributed theoretical work on aging, the evolution of recombination and the evolution of sex chromosomes.

A.I. Oparin

Worked on theory for the origin fo life, which later become the Oprin-Haldaine theory. Assumed that the earths ancient atmosphere was reducing and lead to the formation of first organic chemicals. Also worked on enzymatic reaction rates in plants relating to nutrient processing

Daniel Simberloff

Worked with EO Wilson to study IBG, eventually championing Hubbles unified neutral theory, and other null models. Has worked on biotic invasions. Strong opponent of meta-analysis.

Douglas W. Schemske

Works on characterizing the role of mechanisms for adaptation. Work on speciation reinforcement in mimulus (monkey flower).

Alan Rabinowitz

Zoologist and conservationist, head of Panthera (an NGO dedicated to big cat conservation)

Lawrence Slobodkin

a founder of E&E at SBU. Worked on lake ecosystems. One of the three ecologists who came up with the green world hypothesis, herbivores regulated by the presence of predators which then allows for a higher abundance of producers.

Karl Pearson

a highly influential biostatistician, introduced: correlation coefficient, chi square test, PCA, p values, method of moments

W.D. Hamilton

a rigorous genetic basis for the existence of altruism, an insight that was a key part of the development of a gene-centric view of evolution. He is considered one of the forerunners of sociobiology, as popularized by E. O. Wilson. Hamilton also published important work on sex ratios and the evolution of sex. Early proponent of Red Queen Hypothesis for the evolution of sex.

Richard Lewontin

Allozymes (Lewontin and Hubby). Also big on the idea that maintenance of polymorphisms is difficult. Without these findings, neutral theory wouldn't exist.

Alfred Russel Wallace

Also independently suggested the notion of Evolution through natural selection, published with Darwin (before the origin of the species). Called the father of biogeography. Found the Wallace line (faunal divide).

H. T. Odum

Applied circuit diagrams from electrical engineering to ecosystem ecology, describing the flow of matter and energy (incorporating laws of thermodynamics). His diagrams described energy input and output to the ecosystem as a ratio of Photosynthesis to respiration. Supervised by G. E Hutchinson.

Stuart L. Pimm

Authority in the field of conservation biology. Worked on the mathematical properties of food webs. Indicated that complex food webs should be less stable than simple food webs

Ernst Mayr

Biological Species Concept. Founder effects/speciation. Worked on birds.

Francis Galton

Came up with variance and standard deviation by studying ox, also coined the term "nature vs. nurture"

James F. Crow

population geneticist who worked with Kimura on the neutral theory, also came up with the idea of genetic loads

Robert Sokal

promoted the use of statistics in biology and co-founded the field of numerical taxonomy

Janis Antonovics

the evolution and epidemiology of infectious diseases in natural populations

Robert May

theoretical ecologist, promoter of science and political influencer. Pioneering a mathematical approach to ecology, he established the field of theoretical ecology and developed influential and highly cited theories in population biology.

George Price

three important contributions: first, rederiving W.D. Hamilton's work on kin selection with a new Price equation that vindicated group selection; second, introducing (with John Maynard Smith) the concept of the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), a central concept in game theory; and third, formalizing Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection.

Jared Diamond

worked on birds in the Indo-Specific and suggested a set of assembly rules for community assembly based on what he observed about their patterns of presence/absence

Jane Lubchenco

worked on rocky intertidal communities and the science of marine reserves, was also administrator of NOAA

John Maynard Smith

worked under Haldane, applied game theory to evolution (evolutionarily stable strategy with Price), hawk-dove model in game theory, developed theory on the evolution of sex

James Brown

macroecology and the metabolic theory of ecology (the average scaling of metabolism with temperature that we see in organisms is exactly what we'd expect based on measurements of protein activities and activation energies in vitro)

Hopi Hoekstra

most famous evolutionary biologist known for demonstrating the effect of natural selection in natural populations. Hoekstra is best known for her "elegant and inventive research" studying the genetic mechanisms that influence the evolution of highly complex natural behaviors. She has also previously studied the evolution of the color of mice coats, and its significance for adaptation

Robert MacArthur

niche partitioning, IBG with EO Wilson

Joseph Connell

one of the first ecologists to flesh out the theory behind the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, developed a model for succession with Slayter (facilitation, tolerance, inhibition)

Stephen Jay Gould

paleobiologist. Generated the idea of Punctuated equilibrium from the fossil record.

Harold (Hal) Mooney

pioneer in the field of physiological ecology, biogeography, conservation, ecosystem services

John C. Avise

pioneered the application of allozymes to study of population structure and evolution and then used restriction map variation of mtDNA of in the study of population structure. He is known for putting the term "phylogeography" on this method of study.

John Terborgh

an influential neotropical avian and mammalian ecologist and conservationist

H.A. Gleason

botanist and ecologist that proposed the "individualistic concept" of communities. Each species responds individually to environmental factors, discrete populations whose distributions and abundances result in communities (chance events play a role and populations happen to co-occur over time and space). There are no real entities identifiable as communities. His models of succession was less deterministic than Clements - communities are best regarded as a distribution of populations, not as a superorganism.

Joseph Grinnell

conducted extensive field studies of the fauna of California and introduced a method of recording precise field observations known as the Grinnell System

Johanna Schmitt

described the genetic and environmental mechanisms of adaptation and responses to climatic and environmental variations, especially in plants