Charles Sutherland Elton

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Charles Sutherland Elton (March 29, 1900 - May 1, 1991) was an English biologist. He is credited with establishing modern population ecology.

British ecologist, a pioneer of the study of animal and plant forms in their natural environments, and of animal behaviour as part of the complex pattern of life. He defined the concept of food chains and was an early conservationist, instrumental in establishing the Nature Conservancy Council 1949, and much concerned with the impact of introduced species on natural systems. Elton carried out a 20-year research project of interrelationships of animals in meadows, woods, and water near Oxford. He originated the concept of the 'pyramid of numbers' as a method of representing the structure of an ecosystem in terms of feeding relationships. He died in 1991 aged 91.

He was the son of the literary scholar Oliver Elton and children's writer Letitia Maynard Elton (née MacColl).

[edit] Bibliography

• Animal Ecology - 1927
• The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants - 1958
• The Pattern of Animal Communities - 1966