Timeline of Ecologists
| Notable figure | Lifespan | Major contribution & citation |
|---|---|---|
| Antoni van Leeuwenhoeke | 1632–1723 | First to develop concept of food chains |
| Carl Linnaeus | 1707–1778 | Influential naturalist, inventor of science on the economy of nature |
| Alexander Humboldt | 1769–1859 | First to describe ecological gradient of latitudinal biodiversity increase toward the tropics in 1807 |
| Charles Darwin | 1809–1882 | Discoverer of evolution by means of natural selection, founder of ecological studies of soils |
| Herbert Spencer | 1820–1903 | Early founder of social ecology, coined the phrase 'survival of the fittest' |
| Karl Möbius | 1825–1908 | First to develop concept of ecological community, biocenosis, or living community |
| Ernst Haeckel | 1834–1919 | Invented the term ecology, popularized research links between ecology and evolution |
| Victor Hensen | 1835–1924 | Invented term plankton, developed quantitative and statistical measures of productivity in the seas |
| Eugenius Warming | 1841–1924 | Early founder of Ecological Plant Geography |
| Ellen Swallow Richards | 1842–1911 | Pioneer and educator who linked urban ecology to human health |
| Stephen Forbes | 1844–1930 | Early founder of entomology and ecological concepts in 1887 |
| Vito Volterra | 1860–1940 | Independently pioneered mathematical populations models around the same time as Alfred J. Lotka. |
| Vladimir Vernadsky | 1869–1939 | Founded the biosphere concept |
| Henry C. Cowles | 1869–1939 | Pioneering studies and conceptual development in studies of ecological succession |
| Jan Christian Smuts | 1870–1950 | Coined the term holism in a 1926 book Holism and Evolution. |
| Arthur G. Tansley | 1871–1955 | First to coin the term ecosystem in 1936 and notable researcher |
| Charles Christopher Adams | 1873–1955 | Animal ecologist, biogeographer, author of first American book on animal ecology in 1913, founded ecological energetics |
| Friedrich Ratzel | 1844–1904 | German geographer who first coined the term biogeography in 1891. |
| Frederic Clements | 1874–1945 | Authored the first influential American ecology book in 1905 |
| Victor Ernest Shelford | 1877–1968 | Founded physiological ecology, pioneered food-web and biome concepts, founded The Nature Conservancy |
| Alfred J. Lotka | 1880–1949 | First to pioneer mathematical populations models explaining trophic (predator-prey) interactions using logistic equation |
| Henry Gleason | 1882–1975 | Early ecology pioneer, quantitative theorist, author, and founder of the individualistic concept of ecology |
| Charles S. Elton | 1900–1991 | 'Father' of animal ecology, pioneered food-web & niche concepts and authored influential Animal Ecology text |
| G. Evelyn Hutchinson | 1903–1991 | Limnologist and conceptually advanced the niche concept |
| Eugene P. Odum | 1913–2002 | Co-founder of ecosystem ecology and ecological thermodynamic concepts |
| Howard T. Odum | 1924–2002 | Co-founder of ecosystem ecology and ecological thermodynamic concepts |
| Robert MacArthur | 1930–1972 | Co-founder on Theory of Island Biogeography and innovator of ecological statistical methods |
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