Charles Elton was an important figure in the history of ecology. He was an English zoologist and animal ecologist best known for being the founder of Journal of Animal Ecology. In his book Animal Ecology, he talks about how ecosystems are ordered and organized.
Elton is also credited for introducing the terms “food chain”, “food cycle” as well as the idea of tropic levels and the food pyramid. This was important because it was the basis of the ecosystem concept. Elton also wrote theories about how different parts of the ecosystem connect and make a food web, as well as how predators influence and control the prey and make the cycle generate. He was the first person to talk about the ecological significance of cycling populations.
Charles Elton’s book The ecology of invasions by animals and plants (1933) launched the study of biological invasions, being the first of its kind. In this book, Elton talks about the effects that invasive species can have on local ecosystems. This was one of the most important books in ecological history because it was the first to warn about non-native species and the catastrophes it can create.
Another key paper Elton wrote was with his student Richard Miller called: The ecological survey of Animal Communities: with a practical system of classifying habitats by structural characteristics (1954). In this paper, Elton shifts his attention from population to the community level. He talks about the interspecific interactions that rule the population size. Also, he states that studying population dynamics forces one to study the species coexisting with the target population—in short, the community. This paper also talks about the highly dynamic nature of animal populations and communities.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 