Charles Sutherland Elton

Charles Sutherland Elton ( born March 29, 1900 in Liverpool, † 1 May 1991, Oxford ) was a British ecologist and zoologist. On him the beginning of modern animal ecology is returned.

Life

Charles Elton was among the first who studied the relationship between animals and plants in their natural environment and defined animal behavior as a result of their living environment. He defined the concept of the food chain and one of the early environmentalists and invasion biologists, since he worked in a habitat very pleased with the impact of introduced species. Together with the American Aldo Leopold, he coined the concept of ecosystems. He introduced the concept of the ecological niche. The ecologist Joseph Grinnell had earlier described independently of the concept Elton, Elton's works were but regardless.

Among the research projects is a 20 -year-long study of the interaction of individual species in wetlands, water bodies and trees in an area near Oxford. To him also the Elton'sche number pyramid goes back, which deals with the question of why the number of predators decreases through the food chain.

Honors

Elton was a member ( "Fellow" ) elected in 1953 to the Royal Society, which honored him in 1970 with the Darwin Medal. 1967 Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London awarded him.

Writings (selection )

• Animal Ecology - 1927
• Voles, mice and lemmings, Oxford 1942
• The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants - 1958
• The Pattern of Animal Communities - 1966