Robert Whittaker (1920-1980) was an American vegetation ecologist, active in the 1950s through the 1970s. He was born in Wichita, Kansas, obtained a B.A. at Washburn Municipal College (now Washburn University) in Topeka, Kansas, and, following military service, his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois. He held teaching and research positions at Washington State College in Hanford, Washington, the Hanford National Laboratories (where he pioneered use of radioactive tracers in ecosystem studies), Brooklyn College, University of California-Irvine, and, finally Cornell University. Extremely productive, Whittaker was a leading proponent and developer of gradient analysis to address questions in plant community ecology. He provided strong empirical evidence against some ideas of vegetation development advocated by Frederic Clements. Whittaker was most active in the areas of plant community analysis, succession, and productivity. He also first proposed the five-kingdom taxonomic classification of the world's biota into the Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera. He was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1974, received the Ecological Society of America's 'eminent ecologist' award in 1980, and was otherwise widely recognized and honored. Whittaker collaborated with many other ecologists, and was particularly active in cultivating international collaborations. Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants, and is, by far, the most abundant biotic element of the biosphere. ... Ecology is the branch of science that studies the distribution and abundance of living organisms, and the interactions between organisms and their environment. ... Cornell redirects here. ... Gradient analysis is an empirical analytical method used in plant community ecology to relate the abundances of various species in a plant community to various environmental gradients. ... Frederic Edward Clements (1874–1945) was an American plant ecologist and pioneer in the study of vegetation succession. ... Taxonomy (from Greek verb tassein = to classify and nomos = law, science, cf economy) may refer to: the science of classifying living things (see alpha taxonomy) a system of classification in some other field Taxonomy was once only the science of classifying living organisms, but later the word was applied in... Phyla Subkingdom Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subkingdom Agnotozoa Placozoa Orthonectida Rhombozoa Subkingdom Metazoa Radiata Cnidaria Ctenophora - Comb jellies Bilateria Protostomia Acoelomorpha Platyhelminthes - Flatworms Nemertina - Ribbon worms Gastrotricha Gnathostomulida - Jawed worms Micrognathozoa Rotifera - Rotifers Acanthocephala Priapulida Kinorhyncha Loricifera Entoprocta Nematoda - Roundworms Nematomorpha - Horsehair worms Cycliophora Mollusca - Mollusks Sipuncula - Peanut worms Annelida - Segmented... Divisions Green algae land plants (embryophytes) non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses vascular plants (tracheophytes) seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongue ferns seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering... Divisions Chytridiomycota Zygomycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota The Fungi (singular: fungus) are a large group of organisms ranked as a kingdom within the Domain Eukaryota. ... Typical phyla Rhodophyta (red algae) Chromista Heterokontophyta (heterokonts) Haptophyta Cryptophyta (cryptomonads) Alveolates Pyrrhophyta (dinoflagellates) Apicomplexa Ciliophora (ciliates) Excavates Euglenozoa Percolozoa Metamonada Rhizaria Radiolaria Foraminifera Cercozoa Amoebozoa Choanozoa Many others; classification varies The Kingdom Protista or Protoctista is one of the commonly recognized biological kingdoms, including all the eukaryotes except for... A phylogenetic tree of living things, based on rRNA sequence data, showing the separation of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. ... The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional society for ecologists located in the United States. ...

Ph.D. Students

Ecologists completing Ph.D.'s under Whittaker include, Walter Westman, Robert Peet (now at University of North Carolina), Susan Bratton, Thomas Wentworth (now at North Carolina State University), Owen Sholes, Mark Wilson (now at Oregon State University), Linda Olsvig Whittaker, Kerry Woods. Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (April 13, 1593 - May 12, 1641) was an English statesman, a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. ... There are several well-known people named Mark Wilson: Mark Wilson, the Permanent Secretary of National Security of the Bahamas Mark Wilson, an American politician Mark Wilson, an English football (soccer) player who signed with F.C. Dallas in 2005 Mark Wilson, a Scottish football (soccer) player who plays in...

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