Charles Joseph Krebs (born 17 September 1936) is a professor emeritus of population ecology in the University of British Columbia Department of Zoology. He is also Thinker-in-residence at the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra, Australia. He is renowned for his work on the

fence effect A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

, as well as his widely used ecology textbook ''Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance''.

Research

Krebs was interested mostly in smaller mammal ecology and in 1965 conducted an experiment on voles.GCS Research Society. 2015. Science.ca. http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=11 He fenced in an area of grassland in an Indiana pasture about the size of a soccer field and observed what happened to the population of voles living inside the fenced area. This was when he founded the widely known "Fence Effect". Within a year of living in the fenced area the voles had increased by about five times, which is much more than they would in an unfenced area. He then observed that the population experienced a crash, just like the unfenced populations do. Krebs believed this was due to social behaviour among the voles and could be applied to other animals like them. The voles had no place to migrate therefore the final crash seemed to stem from an increase of competition, aggressive behaviour, and decreased resources. Krebs also worked in British Columbia and Northern Canada for over 40 years to look at cyclic populations of mammals.1. Ecological Society of America. 2002. Eminent Ecologist Award. http://www.esa.org/history/Awards/bulletin/eminent2002.pdf during this time he was able to transform the field of ecology from a descriptive science to an experimental discipline. For 20 years he studied the 10-year population cycle of snowshoe hares and their predators in the Yukon. He found that the population size of the snowshoe hares is regulated by predators such as the lynx, coyote, great horned owls and goshawks. 90% of their deaths were found to be due to these predators and almost none because of starvation and disease. During his career, Krebs made the case for basic research. A summary of Krebs work and his influence on students and colleagues ( Judith H. Myers,

Stan Boutin Stanley A. Boutin (born 1955) is a professor of population ecology in the University of Alberta Department of Biological Sciences. He is scientific co-director of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute and an Alberta Biodiversity Conserv ...

Rudy Boonstra
and Tony Sinclair can be seen in a series of seminars entitle
"Krebs´ ecologists: on population regulation"

Select awards and recognition

* Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 1979 * Killam Senior Fellowship, 1985 * President's Medal, University of Helsinki, 1986 * Honorary doctorate, University of Lund, 1988 * Sir Frederick McMaster Senior Fellowship,

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

, Australia, 1992 *

C. Hart Merriam Award The C. Hart Merriam Award is given annually by the American Society of Mammalogists for "outstanding research in mammalogy". The Merriam Award was established in 1974. Before 1996 the award was given for "outstanding contributions to mammalogy thro ...

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

, 1993 *

Fry Medal The F. E. J. Fry Medal is an annual award for zoology given by the Canadian Society of Zoologists. It is presented to "the Canadian zoologist who has made an outstanding contribution to knowledge and understanding of an area in zoology". The reci ...

Canadian Society of Zoologists Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

, 1996 * Northern Science Award, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 2002 * Corresponding Member, Australian Academy of Science, 2002 * Eminent Ecologist Award, Ecological Society of America, 2002 * Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 2013

References

External links

Ecological Rants: Charles Krebs' Blogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krebs, Charles Living people Canadian ecologists Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada 1936 births People from St. Louis Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science University of British Columbia faculty University of Canberra faculty University of Minnesota alumni University of British Columbia alumni Fellows of the Ecological Society of America American zoologists Canadian zoologists