Abstract
R. H. Whittaker enlivened many fields within ecology, systematics and evolution with his insights. Perhaps his most significant contributions to ecology lie in the development of the theories and methods of gradient analysis. Through the verification of the individualistic hypothesis with field data from many regions, and the subsequent development and dissemination of methods for studying species distributions along continua, he helped replace the Clementsian paradigm with a Gleasonian one. His extensive field data on primary production, nutrient cycling patterns and species diversity established new standards for documentation in synecology and helped clarify the basis for site-to-site variation in these variables. Through his broad command of the ecological literature, his writings and his contact with ecologists throughout the world he fostered international understanding of the diversity of approaches to vegetation study.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bartholomew, B., 1970. Bare zone between California shrub and grassland communities: the role of animals. Science 170: 1210–1212.
Beals, E. W., 1973. Ordination: mathematical elegance and ecological naiveté. J. Ecol. 61: 23–36.
Benzécri, J. P., 1963–1964. Cours de linguistique mathématique: 3 ème et 4 ème leçons; Rennes. Inst. Statist. Univ. Paris, Multigr.
Bratton, S. P., 1976. Resource division in an understory herb community: responses to temporal and microtopographic gradients. Am. Nat. 110: 679–693.
Bray, J. R. & Curtis, J. T., 1957. An ordination of the upland forest communities of southern Wisconsin. Ecol. Monogr. 27: 325–349.
Chabot, B. F. & Bunce, J. A., 1979. Drought-stress effects on leaf carbon balance. In: O. T. Solbriget al. (eds.), Topics in Plant Population Biology, p. 338–355. Columbia Univ. Press, N.Y.
Clements, F. E. & Chaney, R. W., 1936. Environment and life in the Great Plains. Carnegie Inst, of Washington Suppl. Publ. 24. 54 pp.
Connell, J. H. & Slatyer, R. O., 1977. Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. Am. Nat. 111: 1119–1144.
Curtis, J. T. & Mcintosh, R. P., 1951. An upland forest continuum in the prairie-forest border region of Wisconsin. Ecology 32: 476–496.
Dagnelie, P., 1960. Contribution à l’étude des communautés végétales par l’analyse factorielle. Bull. Serv. Carte Phytogeogr. Ser. B. 5: 7–71, 93–195.
Drury, W. H. & Nisbet, I. C. T., 1973. Succession. J. Arnold Arb. 54: 331–368.
Fisher, R. A., Corbet, A. S. & Williams, C. B., 1943. The relation between the number of species and the number of individuals in a random sample of an animal population. J. Anim. Ecol. 12: 42–58.
Glenn-Lewin, D. C., 1977. Species diversity in North American temperate forests. Vegetatio 33: 153–162.
Goodall, D. W., 1954. Objective methods for the classification of vegetation. III. An essay in the use of factor analysis. Aust. J. Bot. 2: 304–324.
Hill, M. O., 1973. Reciprocal averaging: an eigenvector method of ordination. J. Ecol. 61: 237–249.
Hill, M. O., Bunce, R. G. H. & Shaw, M. W., 1975. Indicator species analysis, a divisive polythetic method of classification, and its application to a survey of native pinewoods in Scotland. J. Ecol. 63: 597–613.
Hill, M. O. & Gauch, H. G., Jr., 1980. Detrended correspondence analysis: an improved ordination technique. Vegetatio 42: 47–58.
Horn, H. S., 1975. Markovian properties of forest succession. In: M. L. Cody and J. M. Diamond (eds.), Ecology and Evolution of Communities, p. 196–211. Belknap Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Kessell, S. R., 1979. Gradient Modeling: Resource and Fire Management. Spring-Verlag, N.Y.
Lewin, D.C., 1975. Plant species diversity in ravines of the southern Finger Lakes region, New York. Can. J. Bot. 53: 1465–1472.
MacArthur, R. H. & Wilson, E. O., 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography. Monogr. in Population Biology 1. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J.
Merriam, C. Hart., 1890. Results of a biological survey of the San Francisco Mountain region and desert of the Little Colorado in Arizona. North American Fauna 3: 1–128.
Noy-Meir, I. & Austin, M. P., 1971. Principal component ordination and simulated vegetational data. Ecology 51: 551–552.
Orlöci, L., 1966. Geometric models in ecology. I. The theory and application of some ordination methods. J. Ecol. 54: 193–215.
Peet, R. K., 1978a. Latitudinal variation in southern Rocky Mountain forests. J. Biogeogr. 5: 275–289.
Peet, R. K., 1978b. Forest vegetation of the Colorado Front Range: patterns of species diversity. Vegetatio 37: 65–78.
Peet, R. K., 1981. Forest vegetation of the Colorado Front Range: composition and dynamics. Vegetatio 45: 3–75.
Pickett, S. T. A., 1976. Succession: an evolutionary interpretation. Am. Nat. 110: 107–119.
Phillips, J., 1935. Succession, development, the climax, and the complex organism: an analysis of concepts. Part III: The complex organism: conclusions. J. Ecol. 23: 488–508.
Runkle, J., 1979. Gap phase dyamics in climax mesic forests. Ph. D. dissertation. Cornell Univ., N.Y.
Sabo, S. R., 1980. Niche and habitat relations in subalpine bird communities of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Ecol. Monogr. 50: 241–259.
Shreve, F., 1915. The vegetation of a desert mountain range as conditioned by climatic factors. Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ. 217: 1–112.
Smuts, J. C., 1926. Holism and Evolution. Macmillan, N.Y.
Swan, J. M. A., 1970. An examination of some ordination problems by use of simulated vegetational data. Ecology 51: 89–102.
Tansley, A. G., 1935. The use and abuse of vegetational concepts and terms. Ecology 16: 284–307.
Tobey, R., 1981. Saving the Prairies: The Founding School of American Plant Ecology, 1895–1955. University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles.
Vestal, A. G., 1914. Prairie vegetation of a mountain front area in Colorado. Bot. Gaz. 58: 377–400.
Vestal, A. G., 1917. Foothills vegetation in the Colorado Front Range. Bot. Gaz. 64: 353–385.
Wentworth, T. R., 1981. Vegetation on limestone and granite in the Mule Mountains, Arizona. Ecology 62: 469–482.
Westman, W. E., 1975. Edaphic climax pattern of the pygmy forest region of California. Ecol. Monogr. 45: 109–135.
Westman, W. E., 1978. Patterns of nutrient flow in the pygmy forest region of northern California. Vegetatio 36: 1–16.
Williams, W. T. & Lambert, J. M., 1959. Multivariate methods in plant ecology. I. Association-analysis in plant communities. J. Ecol. 47: 83–101.
Woods, K., 1979. Reciprocal replacement and the maintenance of codominance in a beech maple forest. Oikos 33: 31–39.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Westman, W.E., Peet, R.K. (1985). Robert H. Whittaker (1920–1980): The man and his work. In: Peet, R.K. (eds) Plant community ecology: Papers in honor of Robert H. Whittaker. Advances in vegetation science, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5526-4_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5526-4_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8939-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-5526-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive