John L. Harper

John Lander Harper CBE FRS ( born May 27, 1925 in Oxford, † 22 March 2009) was a British biologist, specializing in ecology and population biology botanical. Together with Colin R. Townsend and Michael Begon he wrote the the German speaking widely used textbook Essentials of Ecology ( Ecology dt ).

Life

Harper was born in 1925 in Oxford and went to Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby. He obtained his first degree in botany in 1946 and his master's degree in 1950 at Oxford University. He then worked until 1959 at the Department of Agriculture in Oxford and then put in a sabbatical year with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation at the University of California at Davis. In 1967 he became chief of Agricultural Botany, University College of North Wales, Bangor.

Research

Harper led in modern ecology, the distinction between a unitary and modular organisms. Unitary organisms characterizes a large extent determined development and a defined finish size. Examples include the human and other higher vertebrates, but also single-celled organisms. Modular organisms, however, have a module with a fixed basic blueprint. By branching many similar units are formed, which are similar to the Greundeinheit most. These include higher plants, but also corals, bryozoans, and many fungi.

Works

German:

• Townsend et al. (2003): Ecology. Springer, Berlin. ISBN 978-3-540-00674-9

English:

• With Michael Begon, Colin R. Townsend ( 2006): Ecology: from individuals to ecosystems. ISBN 1-4051-1117-8
• With Michael Begon, Colin R. Townsend ( 2003): Essentials of Ecology. ISBN 1-4051-0328-0