Shaping Ecology

Beschreibung

Arthur Tansley turned the old plant geography into the new science of ecology, teaching botanists to look at vegetation, rather than individual plant species. He recognised that vegetation is continually changing and how, especially in the British islands, it is influenced by man's activities. Safeguarding wild places from the continuing pressures of agriculture and industry would demand, he argued, not sterile preservation but active conservation within nature reserves, places where the principles of ecology could be applied to the scientific management of plants and animals. Author of a best-selling book on psychology, and a respected philosopher, Tansley was no mere academic. He used his authority and political skills to achieve practical results, such as the foundation of the Nature Conservancy, of which he was the first Chairman. In the ecological principles he laid out, most notably the ecosystem, he left an invaluable legacy for ecologists and conservationists worldwide.
Sir Arthur Tansley was the leading figure in ecology for the first half of the 20th century, founding the field, and forming its first professional societies. He was the first President of the British Ecological Society and the first chair of the Field Studies Council. His work as a botanist is considered seminal and he is recognized as one of the giants of ecology throughout the world. Ecology underpins the principles and practices of modern conservation and the maintenance of biodiversity. It explains the causes of, and offers solutions to, problems of climate change. Yet ecology is a young science, barely 100 years old. Its origins lie in phytogeography, the naming and mapping of plants. Shaping Ecology is a book about a multi-faceted man whose friends included Bertrand Russell, Marie Stopes, Julian Huxley, GM Trevelyan, and Solly Zuckerman. Historical context is provided by Tansley's family for his parents moved in the Fabian-socialist world of John Ruskin and Octavia Hill, both instrumental in the foundation of the National Trust. While Britain was relatively slow to protect its green spaces and wildlife, it did establish in 1913 the first professional Ecological Society in the world. Tansley was its President. Organising the British Vegetation Committee and initiating a series of International Phytogeographic Excursions, he changed phytogeography into ecology.

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Peter G. Ayres

Themen in »Shaping Ecology«

Biowissenschaften Botanik Ecology & Organismal Biology Geschichte Geschichte der Medizin u. Naturwissenschaften History History of Science & Medicine Life Sciences Ökologie Ökologie u. Biologie der Organismen Plant Science

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