R. H. Whittaker
| Robert Harding Whittaker | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born |
December 27, 1920 Wichita, Kansas, US |
| Died |
October 20, 1980 (aged 59) Ithaca, New York, USA |
| Nationality | United States |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois |
| Known for |
gradient theory in ecology five-kingdom system |
| Awards | Mayhew Prize (2002) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ecology |
| Institutions | Cornell University |
Robert Harding Whittaker (December 27, 1920 – October 20, 1980) was a distinguished American plant ecologist, active in the 1950s to the 1970s. He was the first to propose the five-kingdom taxonomic classification of the world's biota into the Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera in 1969. He also proposed the Whittaker Biome Classification, which categorized biome-types upon two abiotic factors: temperature and precipitation.
Born in Wichita, Kansas, he 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. "During his lifetime Whittaker was a major innovator of methodologies of community analysis and a leader in marshaling field data to document patterns in the composition, productivity and diversity of land plant communities." Thus Whittaker was innovative in both empirical data sampling techniques as well as synthesizing more holistic theories.
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