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Curator’s Choice
G. Evelyn Hutchinson:
The “Father”
of American Ecology
CLOSE WINDOW
G. Evelyn Hutchinson receiving the Verrill Medal
in 1981 from S. Dillon Ripley (on right) and
Karl Waage (on left).
| “Nothing in her history being known to the contrary, perhaps for the moment we may take Santa Rosalia as the patroness of evolutionary studies, for just below [her] sanctuary …lies a small artificial pond…[where] I got a hint of what I was looking for.” From “Homage To Santa Rosalia Or Why Are There So Many Animals?” So begins one of the most quoted publications in modern biology. In it Hutchinson discusses the diversity of animal life on earth in the context of food chains, predators, natural selection, species competition and ecological niche theory — principles that he is credited with developing in a modern sense. It is based on studies he made of two species of waterbug (specifically water boatmen), that he observed on Mount Pellegrino, near Palermo, Sicily. Written in Hutchinson’s delightful and unique style, it also includes wonderful descriptions of the mystery, art and religious history of the burial site of Saint Rosalia, which was near his research site. |