Charles Sutherland Elton 1385274 203906441 2008-04-07T03:32:03Z Dmperez 5930410 /* Life and career */ formatting {{Infobox Scientist |name = Charles Sutherland Elton |box_width = |image = Replace_this_image_male.svg |image_width = |caption = |birth_date = 1900 |birth_place = Manchester, England |death_date = 1991 |death_place = Oxford, England |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = {{UK}} |ethnicity = |field = animal [[ecology]], [[zoology]] |work_institutions = [[Oxford University]] |alma_mater = [[Oxford University]] |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = [[Eltonian niche]], [[food chain]] |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = [[Darwin Medal]] (1970) |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} '''Charles Sutherland Elton''' ([[29 March]] [[1900]] &ndash; [[1 May]] [[1991]]) was an [[English people|English]] [[zoology|zoologist]] and animal [[ecology|ecologist]]. His name is associated with the establishment of modern [[population ecology|population]] and [[community ecology]], including studies of [[invasive species|invasive organisms]]. ==Life and career== Charles Elton was born in [[Manchester]] as son of the literary scholar [[Oliver Elton]] and children's writer Letitia Maynard Elton (née MacColl). He was educated at [[Liverpool College]] and [[Oxford University]], from which he graduated in [[zoology]] in [[1922]], and where he subsequently had his entire academic career. Elton's professional goal was to turn [[natural history]] into the science of [[ecology]] by applying the scientific method to study the lives of [[animal]]s in their natural [[habitat]]s and their interactions with the environment. In [[1921]], while still an undergraduate, he was assistant to [[Julian Huxley]] on an expedition to [[Spitsbergen]]. Here, he made an ecological survey of [[Arctic]] [[vertebrates]], a project he continued on three subsequent Arctic expeditions in 1923, 1924, and 1930. His [[Arctic]] experience led to a consultancy with the Hudson's Bay Company, 1926-1931, which enabled him to study fluctuations in the populations of animal species of interest to the [[fur trade]]. Later, he undertook similar studies on [[uk|British]] [[mouse]] and [[vole]] populations. In [[1932]], Elton established the ''Bureau of Animal Population'' at [[Oxford]], which became a centre for the collection of data on fluctuations in animal [[population ecology|population]]s. In the same year, the [[Journal of Animal Ecology]] was founded and Elton became its first editor. In 1936, he was appointed reader in animal [[ecology]] at the [[Oxford University]] and [[Corpus Christi College]] elected him a senior research fellow. During the [[Second World War]] the ''Bureau of Animal Population'' was given the task to find efficient methods for the control of rats, mice and rabbits by the Agricultural Research Council. After the [[Second World War]], Elton started a 20-year survey of animals and their [[biological interaction|interrelationships]] on [[Oxford University]]'s [[Wytham]] estate, including animals in meadows, woods and water. After his retirement, he did some studies in [[Tropics|tropical]] America. He held a great interest in [[nature conservation]] and problems in management of nature reserves and he was instrumental in establishing the [[Nature Conservancy Council]] in [[1949]]. He was elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in [[1953]] and received the society’s [[Darwin Medal]] in [[1970]]. <ref>[http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/chronob/ELTO1900.htm Chrono-Biographical Sketch: Charles Elton]</ref> ==Intellectual heritage== In [[1927]], Elton published his now classic book ''Animal Ecology''. This book outlines the important principles of [[ecology|ecological]] studies of [[animal behaviour]] and [[life history]], such as [[food chain]]s, the size of food items, the [[ecological niche]] and the concept of a ''pyramid of numbers'' as a method of representing the structure of an [[ecosystem]] in terms of feeding relationships. In later works on the [[ecological niche|niche theory]], Elton’s definition – the [[Eltonian niche]] – in terms of functional attributes of organisms (or its position in the [[trophic]] net), has been viewed by some authors as opposed to [[Joseph Grinnell]]’s earlier definition emphasizing states of the environment suitable for the species. However, others have argued that there are more similarieties than dissimilarities between the two versions of the [[ecological niche|niche]] concept<ref>[[Thomas W. Schoener|Schoener, T. W.]], 1989. The ecological niche. Pages 79-113 in J. M. Cherrett (ed.). Ecological Concepts. Blackwell Scientific Publ., Oxford.</ref>. After the [[Second World War]], Elton became much concerned with the impact of [[invasive species]] on natural [[ecosystem]]s. His 1958 book ''The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants'' founded ''invasion ecology'' as a separate sub-discipline<ref>Davis, M.A., Thompson,K. & [[J. Philip Grime|Grime, J.P.]] (2001) Charles S. Elton and the dissociation of invasion ecology from the rest of ecology. Diversity & Distributions, 7: 97-102 [http://www.macalester.edu/~davis/DDI.pdf Full text]</ref>. ==Bibliography== *''Animal Ecology'' – 1st edn [[1927]], Sidgwick and Jackson, London. Reprinted several times, e.g. 2001 by The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-20639-4 2nd edn ''The ecology of animals'', [[1946]], Methuen, London. *''The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants'' - [[1958]], Methuen, London. Reprinted 2000 by The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-20638-6 *''The Pattern of Animal Communities'' – 1st edn [[1966]], Methuen, London. 2nd edn [[1979]], Chapman & Hall, London. ISBN 0-412-21880-1 ==References== {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Elton, Charles}} [[Category:English biologists]] [[Category:English ecologists]] [[Category:Population ecology]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:1900 births]] [[Category:1991 deaths]] [[de:Charles Sutherland Elton]] [[fr:Charles Sutherland Elton]] == Links == * [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/ddi/14/2 Fifty years of invasion ecology – the legacy of Charles Elton], Special Issue from ''Diversity and Distribution'', Published March 2008. * [http://academic.sun.ac.za/cib/events/Elton_CIB_symposium.htm Fifty years of invasion ecology – the legacy of Charles Elton], Symposium 12 - 14 November 2008, hosted by [http://academic.sun.ac.za/cib ''DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology''], Stellenbosch University, South Africa.