植物群集生態学者 Plant community ecologists
Warming E. (1841-1924)
Schimper, A.F.W. (1856-1901)
Raunkiaer, C.C. (1860-1938) (life from)
Tansley, A.G. (1871-1955)
Clements, F. E. (1874-1945)
Gleason, H. A. (1882-1975)
Turesson, G.W. (1892-1970)
Braun-Blanquet, J. (1884-1980)
Stebbins, G.L. (1906-2000)
Billings, W. D. (1910-1997)
Grant, V. (1917-2007)
Whittaker, R. H. (1920-1980)
ロバート・H・ホイッタカー Whittaker, Robert Hardin
Key words: plant community classification, ordination and classification techniques, significance of species diversity, processes and mechanisms of succession, plant biomass and productivity, allelopathy, five kingdoms
群集生態学者。1920年12月27日に合州国カンサス州ウィチタで生まれる。1938年ウォシュバン市立大学入学、1942年生物学で学士を得て卒業する。第二次世界大戦時に兵役のため英国に滞在する。帰国後の1946年にイリノイ大学大学院に入学し、群集個別説を論じたA.G. Vestal及びV. Shelfordに師事する。エコトーンecotoneの存在を重要視する極相パターン説climax pattern theoryの萌芽は、この時点で芽生えていたともいえる。進学後、2年半で「グレートスモーキー山脈における植生解析A vegetation analysis of the Great Smoky Mountains」にて学位を取得する。同年、ワシントン州立大学動物学科勤務をきっかけにシスキユー山脈等において植物群集パターンに関する研究を始めるが、1951年に退職する。同年、ゼネラルエレクトリック社に転職し、水界ミクロコズムを研究対象に生態系内での栄養分移動等について研究し、ホイッタカーの群集類似度percentage similarity of community samplesを発表する。1954年、ニューヨーク市立大学生物学部に勤め、グレートスモーキー山脈において標高勾配に沿った森林群集の生産力等の研究を再開する。1966年、カリフォルニア大学個体群・環境生物学学科に教授として赴任し、1968年にはコーネル大学生態学・生物学部門に移り、”Communities and Ecosystems”の執筆を開始し1970年初版を出版する。コーネル大学では、共同研究者と、多くの群集多変量解析手法の比較検討をもとに環境勾配分析gradient analysisを発展させ、また、群集多様性、ニッチ、エコトーン等の生態学的現象を説明する多くの概念を整理した。1971年に米国生態学会副会長、1974年に米国学士院会員となる。1980年10月20日、癌のため亡くなる。翌1981年、米国生態学会から生態学賞を受ける。
主要文献
1956. Ecological Monographs 26:1-80.
1960. Ecological Monographs 30:279-338.
A brief history of plant ecology viewing from ecologists
- Warming, Eugenius (nickname = Eugen) (1841-1924)
Warming E & Vahl M. 1909. Oecology of Plants - an introduction to the study of plant-communities. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 422 pp. (2nd edn 1925). [first book on plant ecology]
- Schimper, Andreas Franz Wilhelm (1856-1901))
a botanist and phytogeographer →
Schimper AFW. 1903. Plant geography upon a physiological basis. (Lubrecht & Cramer Ltd; Translated and Reprinted edition, June 1960)
beginning of plant physiological ecology (ecophysiology) - Raunkiaer, Christen Christensen (eponymous)
- Tansley, Arthur George (1871-1955)
- Clements, Frederic Edward (1874-1945)
described vegegtation associations and formations in North America, patterns and processes of succession, species as environmental indicators, climax community concept
-. 1916. Plant Succession: an analysis of the development of vegetation. Carnegie Inst. Washington DC. Pub. 242. Weaver JE & -. 1938. Plant ecology. McGrawHill, NY.
On vegetation and autogenic succession: Vegetation is the sum total of plants covering an area ... vegetation is more than the mere grouping of individual plants. It is the result of the interactions of numerous factors. The effects of the plants upon the place in which they live and their influence upon each other are especially significant
On vegetation as a 'superorganism': ... a study of vegetation reveals that it is an organic entity and that, like an organism, each part is interdependent upon every other part ... the development of vegetation consists of a number of closely related processes...like all organisms, vegetation arises, develops, matures, reproduces, and may eventually die ... vegetation, like all organisms, not only undergoes development but also possesses structure.
On climax vegetation and climate: "Depending upon climate, composition or structure varies (e.g., grassland, forest, tundra); these large units are formations. The climax formation is not merely the response to a particular climate, but is at the same time the expression and indication of this climate." - Gleason, Henry Allen (1882-1975): Individualistic (or continuum) concept of plant associations
-. 1917. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 43:463-481. -. 1926. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 53:1-20. -. 1939. Amer. Midl. Nat. 21:92-110
Gleason did not disagree with the concept of plant "communities," per se: "Granted, of the actual existence of definable units of vegetation there is no doubt that these units have describable structure, that they appear, maintain themselves, and eventually disappear are observable facts."
Rather, he argued that: "vegetation, in its broader aspects, is composed of a number of plant individuals. The development and maintenance of vegetation is therefore merely the resultant of the development and maintenance of the component individuals ... according to this view, the phenomena of vegetation depend completely upon the phenomena of the individual" - Turesson, Goete Wilhelm (1982-1970)
heritability of traits in plant species, common garden approaches, ecotypes
- Braun-Blanquet, Josias (1884-1980)
phytosociology (vegetation analysis and classification)
- Stebbins, George Ledyard (1906-2000)
comprehensive analyses of population and geographic variation in plants
- Billings, William Dwight (1910-1997)
ecophysiology (gas exchange, water potential, temperature, etc.)
- Grant, Verne (1917-2007)
Grant V. 1971. Plant Speciation. Columbia University Press
pollination systems as reproductive isolation mechanisms - Whittaker, Robert Hardin: see above
1970 - present: Allozyme studies in plant ecological genetics.
- Harper John Lander (1925-)
Harper, J.L. 1977. Population Biology of Plants. Academic Press (Reprint edn. 1981)
Begon, M., Harper, J.L. & Townsend, C.R. 1996. Ecology. Individuals, populations and communities. (3rd edn.). Blackwell Science, London
1960-1974 International Biological Program (IBP)
1975-: scale from molecular techniques to biogeochemistry
1985-: DNA-based genetic markers in plant ecological genetics
1990-: PCR-based genetic marker techniques
1998-: quantitative trait locus mapping emerges as a revolutionary method for studying selection
2000-: plants rule at ESA meetings
renewed focus on mechanisms that control distribution and abundance of plants
参考
- 生態学 ecology
- Braun-Blanquet J. 1964. Pflanzensoziologie (3rd ed). Springer-Verlag, New York (鈴木時夫訳. 1971. 植物社会学(上・下) 朝倉書店)
- 露崎史朗. 2003. Whittaker, R.H. In: 日本生態学会(編). 生態学事典, 共立出版.
- Whittaker, R.H. 1970. Communities and Ecosystems. MacMillan, New York.
- Whittaker, R.H. 1975. Community and ecosystems (2nd edn). MacMillan, New York. (宝月欣二訳 1979. 生態学概説, 培風館)