R. H. MacArthur
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Robert Helmer MacArthur (April 7, 1930 – November 1, 1972) was a Canadian-born American ecologist who made a major impact on many areas of community and population ecology.


Early life and education

MacArthur was born in Toronto, Ontario, to John Wood MacArthur and Olive Turner in 1930. He later moved to Marlboro, Vermont, as his father moved from the University of Toronto to
Marlboro College Marlboro College was a private college in Marlboro, Vermont. Founded in 1946, it remained intentionally small, operating as a self-governing community with students following self-designed degree plans culminating in a thesis. In 1998 the colle ...
. MacArthur received his Bachelor's degree in mathematics from Marlboro College, followed by a Master's degree in mathematics from
Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
in 1953. A student of
G. Evelyn Hutchinson George Evelyn Hutchinson (January 30, 1903 – May 17, 1991) was a British ecologist sometimes described as the "father of modern ecology." He contributed for more than sixty years to the fields of limnology, systems ecology, radiation ecolog ...
, MacArthur earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1957; his thesis was on the division of ecological niches among five warbler species in the conifer forests of Maine and Vermont. From 1957 to 1958, MacArthur worked as a
postdoc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...
with David Lack.


Career

MacArthur was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, 1958–65, and professor of biology at Princeton University, 1965-72. He played an important role in the development of niche partitioning, and with E.O. Wilson he co-authored '' The Theory of Island Biogeography'' (1967), a work which changed the field of
biogeography Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...
, drove community ecology and led to the development of modern landscape ecology. His emphasis on hypothesis testing helped change ecology from a primarily descriptive field into an experimental field, and drove the development of theoretical ecology. At Princeton, MacArthur served as the general editor of the series Monographs in Population Biology, and helped to found the journal '' Theoretical Population Biology''. He also wrote ''Geographical Ecology: Patterns in the Distribution of Species'' (1972). He was elected to the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
in 1969. Robert MacArthur died of renal cancer in 1972.


See also

* Island biogeography * Optimal foraging theory * Robert H. MacArthur Award


References

* Fretwell, Stephen D. (1975). The Impact of Robert MacArthur on Ecology. ''Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics'' 6, 1-13 * Pianka, E.R. and Horn, H.S. (2005). Ecology's Legacy from Robert MacArthur. Chapter 11 (pp. 213–232) in K. Cuddington and B. Biesner, eds. "Ecological Paradigms Lost: Routes of Theory Change." Elsevier Academic Press.


External links


Bibliography of Robert H. MacArthurNational Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macarthur, Robert 1930 births 1972 deaths American ecologists Brown University alumni Marlboro College alumni Mathematical ecologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences People from Toronto Princeton University faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty Yale University alumni