Edward Osborne Wilson was born on June 10, 1929, Birmingham,United States and died December 26, 2021, Burlington, Massachusetts. E.O. Wilson was an American biologist who was widely regarded as the country’s foremost expert on ants. He was also a main proponent of sociobiology, the study of the genetic foundation of all animal social behavior, including humans.Wilson earned his biology education at the University of Alabama. He was a part of Harvard’s biology and zoology faculty from 1956 to 1976 after getting a doctorate in biology from Harvard University in 1955.His capability to observe birds and other animals in the wild was hampered by a fishing accident that left him blind in one eye during his childhood. He decided to concentrate on insects, which he could study under a microscope.Edward O. Wilson named mass extinction as the greatest threat to Earth’s future in an essay he published in 2018 for the Encyclopedia Britannica Anniversary Edition: 135 Years of Excellence.There are around 10 million different creatures on the earth with us. They are vanishing at a rate 100 to 1,000 times quicker than they were before the emergence of our own species. By the end of the 21st century, Planet’s diversity may have been reduced to half of what it is now. He was regarded as a modern-day Darwin, who had an urge to seek out new species. He created a hypothesis of adaptive demography which suggests that some types of social structure might improve reproductive fitness and the evolution of caste division for example insect queens and worker groups. He was an honorary member of more than 30 prominent organizations, institutes, and institutions. He received more than 150 outstanding prizes and medals around the world. Several animal species have been scientifically named in his honour.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 