Inter-Research > ECI Prize  
IR
Inter-Research Science Publisher




via Mailchimp

ECI Prize Winners

The ECI Prize is awarded to an ecologist distinguished by outstanding and sustained scientific achievements. The prize both honours the recipient and requires him or her to serve science and society by authoring a book taking into account the ECI's aims. The book is published in the series 'Excellence in Ecology' (EE) and made available worldwide on a non-profit basis. A large number of books are donated to libraries in less developed countries. EE books invite authors to present their personal experiences, insights and visions, to criticize freely, and to courageously formulate new scientific concepts. The ECI Prize carries an endowment of Euro 6000. Call for nominations.

ECI Prize Laureates and Their Major Scientific Achievements



William J. Sutherland (University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England) ECI Prize winner 2023 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Andrew Hector, Oxford, UK)

Professor William ('Bill') J. Sutherland is one of the world's leading conservation scientists. His research spans over 40 years, initially focussing on behavioural and population ecology. This was the platform for emerging at the forefront of predicting the impacts of environmental change and developing novel approaches for integrating science and policy, thereby having significant impact on global conservation efforts. His “horizon-scanning” exercises have shaped environmental research priorities and ensured that emerging global conservation concerns are identified and speedily addressed. Through an astonishing concerted effort, Bill and team have collated and summarised the evidence for the effectiveness of thousands of conservation interventions, transforming practice. He has regularly advised government and conservation organisations and serving on advisory committees for bodies including Natural England and The National Trust. Bill Sutherland holds the Miriam Rothschild Chair in Conservation Biology in the Department of Zoology at Cambridge, is a Professorial Fellow in St Catharine’s College, running its Biosecurity Research Initiative. He was integral to the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. He served as President of the British Ecological Society. His research and leadership have been recognised through several awards, most recently as Commander of the British Empire in 2021. Due to his excellent research and superb service to biological conservation, the ECI Jury deems Bill Sutherland a much-deserved recipient of the Ecology Institute Prize.

Nils Christian Stenseth (University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway) ECI Prize winner 2019 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Christine A. Maggs, Bournemouth, UK)

Nils Chr. Stenseth obtained his Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Oslo, and his academic career has also flourished in Oslo, culminating in his becoming Founding Chair of the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis. He is an extremely distinguished scientist, having received numerous honours during his career such as fellowship of the French Académie des Sciences, and Presidency of the Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters. He has an astonishing publication record, including 16 papers in Science, 20 in Nature and 56 in PNAS! Although primarily a theoretical ecologist, Prof. Stenseth’s achievements include interdisciplinary contributions to marine biology. He has championed long-term time-series and their value for analyses. His novel approaches to empirically modeling and understanding density-dependent and -independent effects of climate and other factors on population processes and patterns have been very influential. Prof. Stenseth has always been a generous supporter of young scientists. The centres of excellence that he established have provided the springboards for many successful doctoral students and postdocs. The Ecology Institute is proud that Prof. Stenseth has accepted our award, and we look forward eagerly to his proposed book on marine systems in the Anthropocene.

Lars Tranvik (Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden) ECI Prize winner 2018 in freshwater ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Elizabeth Irmgard Meyer, Münster, Germany)

Lars Tranvik is one of the most distinguished limnologists and ecosystem ecologists of today. With his profound and pioneering contributions covering wide ranges in the field of microbial ecology and biogeochemistry in lakes Dr. Tranvik has steadily and increasingly achieved significant breakthroughs in key fields of these disciplines, noticeably accelerating in the past decade, and shaping our current understanding of carbon cycling in inland waters. His creative and forward thinking has spurred novel questions that address our core understanding of the ecology and biogeochemistry of lake ecosystems from a wide range of perspectives, encompassing various levels of complexity, stretching from the molecular to the global scale, and linking land and aquatic systems. The work of Lars Tranvik has been influental and long-lasting to date. The jury not only highlights his excellence in science, but also his outstanding role as a mentor for young scientists, and as a leader for scientific work, inspiring a broad audience of ecologists. Due to his excellence in science and academic leadership the jury chose Dr. Lars Tranvik as a worthy recipient for the ECI award 2018 in freshwater ecology.
Book 33: Why Is There So Much Organic Matter, and What Happens To It? A Journey from Soil to Sea (tentative title; in preparation)

Kevin Gaston (University of Exeter, Cornwall, UK) ECI Prize winner 2017 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: William Sutherland, Cambridge, UK)

Kevin Gaston is widely accepted as one of the world’s leading terrestrial ecologists. He has been astonishingly productive in writing a series of eight books and over 500 papers. He has made major contributions in a number of fields, but especially in macroecology, where he has set much of the research agenda and played a leading role in answering many of the key questions. He has played a role on a number of committees and founded the highly regarded Environmental and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter that is presently a thriving body of over 60 researchers. He has taken interdisciplinany science very seriously including bringing many researchers from many fields together in the institute he established. He is the recipient of a series of major awards including the BES Marsh Award and is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher. The Ecology Institute is delighted that he has accepted this year’s ECI prize as a most worthy recipient.
Book 32: Common Ecology (Published 2023)

Jane Lubchenco (Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA) ECI Prize winner 2016 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Christine Maggs, Bournemouth, United Kingdom)

Jane Lubchenco is one of the most impactful, innovative and transformative marine ecologists of our time. Her career is characterized by linking bold advances in marine ecology with extremely effective communications about their relevance to humanity. Through her leadership she has invigorated and advanced the field of ecology. Her gift as a communicator of science has enabled the work of many marine ecologists to have far more influence in addressing environmental challenges to the oceans than would have been possible otherwise. Professor Lubchenco has received numerous honors during her career, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences and many honorary degrees. She obtained her BA in Biology from Colorado College, her MSc from the University of Washington, and her PhD from Harvard University. After her doctorate, she worked in academic positions at Harvard and at Oregon State University, where she has been a Distinguished Professor since 1993, except when seconded to the position of Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Professor Lubchenco has worked continuously to advance fundamental knowledge in service to humanity and nature. The Ecology Institute is proud that she has accepted this year’s ECI prize.

John Smol (Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada) ECI Prize winner 2015 in freshwater ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Mary Power, Berkeley, CA, USA)

The jury was profoundly impressed by John Smol’s leadership in bringing palaeolimnology to bear so effectively on urgent environmental problems. His research has shown the power of palaeolimnology in providing long records -- sorely needed for forecasting ecosystem responses to environmental change -- when practised as a precise, quantitative science, and combined with contemporary cutting-edge limnological analyses. His many papers (and those of his students and colleagues) clearly show how palaeolimnological records document responses of lake ecosystems to changes in climate, temperature, pH, heavy metals, and fish populations. His intellectual and societal leadership has been particularly crucial in documenting environmental change in the High Arctic, and in prompting establishment of scientific programmes throughout the circumpolar regions. Further, he educates and inspires individuals, groups, and governments to learn, investigate and communicate how lakes are responding to human stressors. Prof. Smol’s environmental teaching has translated very effectively to public media, widening its reach, and his advice to governments has been critical in bringing the best science to bear on understanding, forecasting, and managing rapid environmental change.
Book 30: Lakes in the Anthropocene: Reflections of Tracking Ecosystem Change in the Arctic (Published 2023)

William H. Schlesinger (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, USA). ECI Prize winner 2014 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Harold Mooney, Stanford, CA, USA)

William Schlesinger represents the best of science as well as of science leadership. His path-breaking book on global biogeochemistry, which he hoped would ‘stimulate a new generation of students to address the science and policy of global change’, certainly has, since it clearly, and definitively, describes the details of the cycling of the elements on Earth and the consequences of human perturbations to their flow, putting him at the forefront of exchanges about the effects of climate change on carbon storage in the terrestrial biosphere. He led one of the first experiments on the impact of CO2 on forests as well as important work on carbon cycling in desert ecosystems. Dr. Schlesinger continues to produce widely read and highly cited papers, as well as building and improving two very significant institutions for environmental science. As the former dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and (from 2007) as the Director of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, he has encouraged his faculty members not only to pursue the most important environmental questions of our day but to communicate their science productively to the public and policy makers. His foundational work in ecology is fully deserving of the Ecology Institute Prize.
Book 29: Translational Ecology: Collected Writings on Contemporary Environmental Issues (Published 2017)

Antje Boetius (Bremen, Germany). ECI Prize winner 2013 in marine ecology.
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Tom Fenchel, Helsingør, Denmark)

Antje Boetius has made ground-breaking contributions to microbial ecology and geomicrobiology. She has significantly increased our understanding of the carbon cycle of the sea bottom, in particular in the deep sea, in Arctic seas, and in cold seeps. Her contributions include, among other aspects, the study of bacterial hydrolysis of organic matter, symbiosis between invertebrates and chemolithotrophic bacteria, the microbial activity in whale falls, and the microbial turnover of methane and methane hydrate. The Jury is especially impressed by her discovery that consortia of archaea and sulfate reducing bacteria may carry out anaerobic oxidation of methane in marine sediments. This led to the recognition of “reverse methanogenesis” whereby archaea apparently catalyze the activation of methane and its oxidation to CO2. This work has served as inspiration for further progress, not only in the study of anaerobic methane oxidation, but more generally in the exploration of the role of microbes in the sea.
Book 28: Marine Carbon Matters: Connecting Ocean Geochemistry and Biodiversity (tentative title; in preparation)

Alan Hildrew (London, UK), ECI Prize winner 2012 in Limnetic Ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Brian Moss, Liverpool, UK)

From the first papers of his PhD research in the 1970s, Alan Hildrew has exerted a significant influence on understanding of the ecology of streams and rivers. His work has contributed greatly to showing how biological interactions, food webs and predator–prey relations combine with water chemistry, the structure of the bed, and the physical effects of vigorous water flow to explain the complex changes in invertebrate communities that occur both naturally and with impacts such as acidification. Concomitantly he has also given substantial service: in his co-editing, over 30 years, of one of the leading journals, Freshwater Biology; in his championing of the freshwater sciences in the UK against official indifference; and in his fostering of the scientific community concerned with freshwaters in Europe. In all this Alan Hildrew has combined rigour, originality, ability and enthusiasm with a personal modesty that characterizes the truly excellent.
Book 27: Freshwater Acidification: Natural History, Ecology, and Environmental Policy (Published 2018)

Georgina Mace (London, UK), ECI Prize winner 2011 in Terrestrial Ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Michel Loreau, Montreal, QC, Canada)

Georgina Mace has pioneered new approaches to conservation biology that have had a lasting influence both within the scientific community and beyond. In particular, her work in developing policies for identifying and protecting endangered species through the IUCN’s Red List has contributed significantly towards the conservation of global biodiversity. Her research also encompasses the links among biodiversity, ecosystem services and poverty alleviation, and the development of a socio-ecological knowledge system that captures the value of natural systems to humans. She has played a leading role in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The Jury awards the 2011 ECI Prize to Georgina Mace for her excellence in the area of conservation biology, and for her service to the global community in developing policies for the conservation of biodiversity and for sustainable development.
Book 26: Cancelled

Paul Falkowski (New Brunswick, NJ, USA), ECI Prize winner 2010 in Marine Ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Victor Smetacek, Bremerhaven, Germany)

Paul Falkowski is a leading figure in the field of marine primary production which he has addressed across a breathtaking range of spatial and temporal scales: from global to molecular, and from nanoseconds to billions of years. His contributions have furthered our understanding of global carbon, oxygen and nitrogen cycles, the ecology, physiology and evolution of the organisms involved and the molecular basis of the processes driving the cycles. Paul’s prolific scientific production encompasses over 200 original papers and several influential books authored or edited by him on biogeochemistry, ecology and evolution of phytoplankton, as well as a fluorometer now in universal use in laboratories and the field. He has received many prestigious awards and been elected to various influential boards. In addition his articles in the media have contributed to the public debate on the environment, in particular on climate change and energy policy. The jury found him most worthy of the ECI Prize in marine ecology 2010.
Book 25: Inheriting the Earth: The Imperative for Understanding How Earth's Systems Operate (tentative title; in preparation)

Brian Moss (Liverpool, UK), ECI Prize winner 2009 in Limnetic Ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Morten Søndergaard, Copenhagen, Denmark)

Professor Brian Moss has invested his scientific and scholarly skills and enthusiasm for research within a variety of limnological fields for more than four decades, and his studies have covered freshwater ecosystems from the Arctic to the tropics. The Jury especially emphasize the many excellent studies Brian Moss has carried out on eutrophication of shallow lakes, particularly with respect to the problems of the Norfolk Broadland. One of the many virtues reflected in his research is the ability to work with entire ecosystems, and to understand how different groups of organisms interact and how freshwater ecosystems behave under pressure from human activities, whether in the form of excess nutrient loads or changed climate. Brian Moss was one of the first scientists to carry out full-scale biomanipulation studies, thereby closing the gap between scientific understanding of trophic cascading and treatment of ecological problems. The excellence in research is mirrored by his abilities to describe cutting-edge science in textbooks and to present science to the general public; often even with a touch of poetry and art. Professor Brian Moss is a most worthy recipient of the ECI Prize in Limnetic Ecology 2009.
Book 24: Liberation Ecology: The Reconciliation of Natural and Human Cultures (Published 2012)

Monica Turner (Madison, WI, USA), ECI Prize winner 2008 in Terrestrial Ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Robert D. Holt, Gainsville, FL, USA)

Dr. Monica Turner has been a driving force in the development of the field of landscape ecology. She has carried out exemplary field studies and developed methods, models, and theories that permit this field to go beyond mere description to make testable, quantitative predictions. She has provided important and timely syntheses of landscape ecology, grounded in her significant empirical studies in many systems, most notably in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, where she has developed key insights into long-term vegetation dynamics across many scales that incorporate the interplay of changing disturbance regimes, vertebrate grazing, and soil-microbe-nutrient interactions. This integrated body of work sets a standard for research in landscape ecology, and has led to important advances in addressing applied problems. Her many publications are highly cited, and together with her excellence as a researcher, her warm personal qualities have made her an inspiration for many young scientists.
Book 23: Lessons from Landscape Ecology (tentative title; in preparation)

Daniel Pauly (Vancouver, Canada), ECI Prize winner 2007 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Bo Barker Jørgensen, Bremen, Germany)

Daniel Pauly is Professor of Fisheries and Director of the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia. He is a distinguished scientist in marine fisheries biology and the management of fisheries resources and marine ecosystems. Among his important contributions, he pioneered the assessment of the global impact of fishing on marine ecosystems. His life-work and ideas have widened the scope of fisheries ecology and contributed to the harmonious coexistence of humans with nature. His work on marine ecosystem conservation has met widest acceptance through his 'Marine Trophic Index, MTI' (i.e. the mean trophic level of fisheries landings). MTI was endorsed in 2004 by the Convention of Biological Diversity as one of eight ecological/biodiversity indicators for immediate testing. He is one of the most highly-cited marine ecologists and was recently ranked among the world's 50 leading scientists (Scientific American's 50 Research Leaders in 2003).
Book 22: Gasping Fish and Panting Squids: Oxygen, Temperature and the Growth of Water-Breathing Animals (Published 2010)
Book 22, 2nd edn.: Gasping Fish and Panting Squids: Oxygen, Temperature and the Growth of Water-Breathing Animals (Published 2019)

Winfried Lampert (Plön, Germany), ECI Prize winner 2006 in limnetic ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Nelson G. Hairston, Jr., Ithaca, NY, USA)

Winfried Lampert is one of the most influential international limnologists of the past four decades. His strong advocacy for including adaptive evolutionary considerations in studies of the functioning of plankton populations and their role in limnetic ecosystem dynamics has been fundamental in shaping research on lakes. His choice of Daphnia as a model organism for his own investigations, and his success in demonstrating by example the progress in understanding gained through rigorous laboratory experiments using this ecologically critical species, has established a research program that now encompasses a large network of scientists around the globe. Winfried Lampert’s studies, and those of his students, of Daphnia feeding behavior, growth rate, population dynamics, reaction to predators, and impacts on primary production, have identified the central role that Daphnia plays in the dynamics of the pelagic zone. His generosity as a host for visitors to the Max-Planck-Institute for Limnology is legendary, and has established Plön as a world center for the study of evolutionary ecology where there is always a stimulating mixture of ideas and research in progress.
Book 21: Daphnia: Development of a Model Organism in Ecology and Evolution (published 2011)

Robert D. Holt (Gainesville, FL, USA), ECI Prize winner 2005 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Michel Loreau, Paris, France)

Robert D. Holt has made significant theoretical contributions to population, community, and evolutionary ecology during the last three decades. His early work on the role of predation on the structure of ecological communities has had a long-lasting influence on the way ecologists view communities, by showing that predation strongly affects the outcome of competitive interactions and is even the vehicle of new competitive interactions among species. Robert Holt’s work on the spatial dynamics of populations and communities has been equally influential; it has contributed to the emergence of the current interest in metacommunities and the relationship between local and regional ecological processes. The evolutionary dimension of ecological processes is one of his credos; he has had a special interest in the evolutionary response of species to a spatially heterogeneous environment. Although mainly theoretical, his work also has substantial implications for conservation biology. The Jury particularly valued the breadth of his views, the innovative nature of his approaches, and his efforts to link different areas of ecology and evolutionary biology. It awards the 2005 ECI Prize in Terrestrial Ecology to Robert Holt for these outstanding qualities.
Book 20: On the Conceptual Unification of Ecology: An Unfinished Agenda (tentative title; in preparation)

Bo Barker Jørgensen (Bremen, Germany), ECI Prize winner 2004 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairmann: Victor Smetacek, Bremerhaven, Germany)

Bo Barker Jørgensen's qualitative and quantitative description of the microbial sulphur cycle in marine sediments revolutionised microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. Ever since his early career he has continued to play a leading role in aquatic microbiology. In 1992 Jørgensen was invited to found and co-direct the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen. His combination of skills, especially his ability to stimulate and inspire scientists around him, established the institute at the cutting edge of international research from the start. Together with his co-workers, he has demonstrated the limiting role of molecular diffusion for process rates, showed how different element cycles interact and discovered novel physiological types of microorganisms. Bo is amongst the 'highly cited scientists' of ISI. In 2004 he was presented the Hutchinson Award by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. In addition to his outstanding scientific attributes he is a very likeable man, known to his students as the 'silent giant'.
Book 19: Cancelled

Jonathan J. Cole (Millbrook, NY, USA), ECI Prize Winner 2003 in limnetic ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Colin Reynolds, Ambleside,UK)

The innovative studies of Jonathan Cole have achieved distinction in several areas of aquatic biology, especially in microbial ecology, nutrient biogeochemistry and carbon cycling. Challenging and controversial, his investigations of bacterial activity and its contribution to the gas balance in lake systems have succeeded in establishing fresh insights into the relationships between primary productivity, microorganisms and the metabolism of lakes within the broader context of their hydrological landscapes. Jonathan Cole has a proven ability to synthesise his own work and that of others, melding a wider, integral understanding of the ways in which lakes function. He is among the true leaders of contemporary ecology.
Book 18: Freshwater Ecosystems and the Carbon Cycle (Published 2013)

Michel Loreau (Paris, France), ECI Prize winner 2002 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Paul Ehrlich, Stanford, CA, USA)

The Jury found that Professor Michel Loreau has contributed in a number of significant ways to important increases in ecological knowledge. His ability to use models to explore the effects of phenomena at the level of communities to make predictions about the ecosystem level provides for novel experimental approaches to fields of ecology with a strong descriptive basis. In this way, his theoretical and empirical insights have contributed significantly to the integration of different branches of ecology. The studies of Michel Loreau will have great impact on applied ecology and issues of conservation biology related to the ecosystem effects of climatic change. His many important papers in international journals of the highest rank are widely known and have strongly influenced a new generation of ecologists. Michel Loreau is a highly worthy recipient of the 2002 ECI Prize in Terrestrial Ecology.
Book 17: The Challenges of Biodiversity Science (Published 2010)

Louis Legendre (Villefranche-sur-Mer, France), ECI Prize winner 2001 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Richard T. Barber, Beauford, NC, USA)

Professor Louis Legendre has advanced our understanding of how ocean ecosystems function. Elegantly integrating observation, experimentation and theory, Legendre's work contributes both pragmatic and theoretical advances. He pioneered the concept of hydrodynamic control of biogenic carbon fluxes in open ocean and coastal regimes, an advance that has importance for the future course of carbon partitioning in a world significantly altered by anthropogenic activities. His wide-ranging investigations relating physical processes to biological responses led him to develop the concept of "Dynamic Biological Oceanography." Based in part on the seasonal physical progression that characterizes high temperate and polar oceans, this broad concept involves a mechanistic understanding of species succession, photoadaptation, nutrient limitation, temperature responses, grazing and sedimentation. That Legendre's contributions are characterized by unusual quantitative rigor is evidenced by his participation in the creation and development of the new discipline of "numerical ecology." In conclusion, we cite Prof. Legendre's long-term project of developing a unified theoretical framework for biological oceanography, an ambitious undertaking that is still in progress.
Book 16: Scientific Research and Discovery: Process, Consequences and Practice (Published 2004)

Stephen R. Carpenter (Madison, WI, USA), ECI Prize winner 2000 in limnetic ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Wolfgang Wieser, Innsbruck, Austria)

Stephen R. Carpenter, Halverson Professor of Limnology and Professor of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, is a leader in ecosystem science. His demonstrations of the role of fish in controlling lake productivity and nutrient cycling have brought whole-ecosystem experimentation to a new level of sophistication. Carpenter leads a multidisciplionary research team that has manipulated fish community structure and nutrient inputs of entire lake ecosystems. These large-scale experiments demonstrated trophic cascades through the food web, altering primary production, nutrient cycling, and gas exchange between lakes and the atmosphere. Carpenter has received many awards for distinguished research, including the R.E. Hutchinson Medal of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, the R.H. MacArthur Award from the Ecological Society of America, and the Per Brinck Award in Limnology. In 1999 he assumed leadership of the North Temperate Lakes LTER site, a collaboration of more than 20 principal investigators from 7 academic departments and 2 agencies, studying long-term lake dynamics, land-water interactions, and the interactions of people and lakes in rural and urban regions. Recently Carpenter was elected President of the Ecological Society of America.
Book 15: Regime Shifts in Lake Ecosystems: Patterns and Variation. (Published 2003)

Ilkka Hanski (Helsinki, Finland), ECI Prize winner 1999 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: F.A. Bazzaz, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Ilkka Hanski's research in population and community ecology spans 20 years. His work is characterized by a combination of theory, modelling and empirical research. Though he has worked on a range of taxa and questions, most of his research has focussed on the spatial structure and dynamics of populations. Spatial ecology has developed into an important area of ecology over the past 10 years, and Hanski's research has made significant contributions to this development. In the 1970s and early 1980s, much of Hanski's research was on small-scale spatial structure of populations, the empirical work being done on insects living in ephemeral microhabitats. Hanski demonstrated how intraspecifically aggregated spatial distributions of species may facilitate coexistence of competitors, and how a generalist predator using the spatially aggregated prey species may have the same effect. Experimental work on blowflies supported these predictions and may help to explain high species richness in insect communities. In the late 1980s, Hanski's research shifted to larger spatial scales and to metapopulations. He has made major contributions to both theoretical and empirical aspects in the field, and edited, together with Michael Gilpin, the two most widely read volumes in metapopulation biology (Metapopulation Dynamics, 1991, and Metapopulation Biology, 1997).
Book 14: The Shrinking World: Ecological Consequences of Habitat Loss. (Published 2005)

Richard T. Barber (Beaufort, NC, USA), ECI Prize winner 1998 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: B.-O. Jansson, Stockholm, Sweden)

Richard T. Barber studied the productivity of coastal-upwelling ecosystems off California, Ecuador, Peru, North Africa and the Arabian Sea. One of the strongest advocates of the integration of biological oceanography with physical and chemical oceanography both in field work and numerical modelling as early as the 1960s, he has had a large share in the shaping of modern oceanography to a unified discipline. His own intensive time series work on the eastern side of the Pacific led to the first detailed documentation of the biological effects of the El Niño episode 1982/83, long before El Niño phenomena attracted general attention. Barber also documented the 1991/92 episode. He played a leading role in the testing of the iron hypothesis, which is based on iron being one of the limiting elements for primary production in the open ocean. The international test expedition he initiated to the tropical eastern Pacific was an outstanding success, receiving considerable attention in leading scientific journals. Dr. Barber has been able to develop constructive working relationships with scientists and research institutes in disadvantaged countries - in particular Peru and Ecuador - and in China.
Book 13: Cancelled

Z. Maciej Gliwicz (Warsaw, Poland), ECI Prize winner 1997 in limnetic ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Winfried Lampert, Plön, Germany)

Since the early 1970s, Maciej Gliwicz has exerted an outstanding impact on freshwater plankton ecology. He has laid the foundations for our current understanding of the mechanisms of phytoplankton-zooplankton interactions. For example, he pioneered the work on selective feeding by zooplankton and mechanical interference by inedible algae. His studies on the relative impact of bottom-up and top-down forces in plankton communities and on the evolution and constraints of defense mechanisms have greatly influenced modern lake ecosystem and trophic cascade theory. Maciej Gliwicz has always been in favor of unusual ideas, and, with his legendary enthusiasm, he has become a creative and thoughtful leader in evolutionary aquatic ecology.
Book 12: Between Hazards of Starvation and Risk of Predation: The Ecology of Offshore Animals (Published 2003)

John H. Lawton (Ascot, United Kingdom), ECI Prize winner 1996 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Ilkka Hanski, Helsinki, Finland)

The ECI Jury selected John Lawton for his distinguished conceptual, theoretical and empirical contributions to population, community and ecosystem ecology since the early 1970s. Lawton is perhaps best known for his elegant and comprehensive work on folivorous insects, including a long-term research project on the food web structure of bracken insects. He is also one of the leaders in macroecology, the study of large-scale patterns in animal and plant communities.
Book 11: Community Ecology in a Changing World. (Published 2000)

Ramon Margalef (Barcelona, Spain), ECI Prize winner 1995 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Ernest Naylor, Menai Bridge, UK)

Ramon Margalef is generally acknowledged to be the most prominent marine ecologist that Spain has produced. He has excelled in the study of unicellular algae, developing the paradigm of phytoplankton organization when previously such organisms were considered to be in unstructured suspension. He also pioneered the use of multidimensional statistical analyses in wider studies of marine plankton. The contributions which he has made to theoretical ecology have brought him particularly high international prestige, and have made him one of the most frequently quoted contemporary ecologists. As one reviewer of his work has noted, 'Margalef's ideas have provoked thought, an enviable encomium for any scientist'.
Book 10: Our Biosphere. (Published 1997)

Colin S. Reynolds (Ambleside, UK), ECI Prize winner 1994 in limnetic ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: William D. Williams, Adelaide, Australia)

The research of Dr. Colin S. Reynolds in algology has several components interfacing with other biological disciplines, and, indeed, other sciences. He has pursued his research in depth and great detail and yet been able to relate and apply findings to holistic analysis of ecosystem function. Thus, his contributions to our understanding of the dynamic controls and responses of planktonic algae have provided new insight into several controversial areas of ecology. Dr. Reynolds' ideas have also been widely applied in the water industry to reduce the impact of algal growth in reservoirs. His conversion of these ideas into mathematical models has resulted in a vastly increased application of his knowledge to the benefit of society.
Book 9: Vegetation Processes in the Pelagic: A Model for Ecosystem Theory. (Published 1997)

Paul R. Ehrlich (Stanford, CA, USA), ECI Prize winner 1993 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Harold A. Mooney, Stanford, CA, USA)

Dr. Paul Ehrlich's scientific contributions have been substantial and sustained. The quality and depth of his interpretation of environmental issues to students, the general public, and to policy makers is unrivaled. His concern for both environmental quality and environmental justice has rarely been matched. He has made fundamental contributions to the study of population biology utilizing butterflies as a model system. These studies have had a large impact on how we view the population structure of organisms and have provided important guidelines on the conservation of wild populations.
Book 8: A World of Wounds: Ecologists and the Human Dilemma. (Published 1997)

David H. Cushing (Lowestoft, United Kingdom), ECI Prize winner 1992 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: John Costlow, Beaufort, NC, USA)

Dr. David H. Cushing has, for many years, made an enormous contribution to the field of marine ecology through his numerous publications and his original ideas. His work continues to be highly influential in fisheries and plankton ecology. Although first published over ten years ago, his pioneering studies on the dynamics of a plankton patch, the feeding of copepods, the 'match-mismatch' theory of recruitment and the climatic influences on plankton and fisheries remain of central importance.
Book 7: Towards a Science of Recruitment in Fish Populations. (Published 1996)

Robert H. Peters (Montreal, PQ, Canada), ECI Prize winner 1991 in limnetic ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Jürgen Overbeck, Plön, Germany)

Professor R. H. Peters' contributions to the fields of limnology and ecology have been numerous and far reaching. His work on phosphorus cycling in lakes provides examples of excellent research illuminating a number of important aspects regarding the movement and availability of phosphorus in aquatic systems. His book 'The Ecological Implications of Body Size' gives a powerful overview of the utility of allometric relationships for the study of ecological problems and for building ecological theory.
Book 6: Science and Limnology. (Published 1995). Authors: The late F. H. Rigler and R. H. Peters

Harold A. Mooney (Stanford, CA, USA), ECI Prize winner 1990 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: John L. Harper, Penmaenmawr, UK)

Professor Harold A. Mooney is distinguished for his studies of the physiological ecology of plants, especially of arctic-alpine and mediterranean species. He has explored the ways in which plants allocate carbon resources and expressed this allocation in terms of costs, benefits and trade-offs. This has given a quantitative dimension to the study of plant-animal interactions and acted to integrate physiological ecology with population biology, community ecology, and ecosystem studies.
Book 5: The Globalization of Ecological Thought. (Published 1998)

Robert T. Paine (Seattle, WA, USA), ECI Prize winner 1989 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Tom Fenchel, Helsingør, Denmark)

Robert T. Paine has made substantial and original contributions to marine biology and to ecology in general. In particular the Jury mentions the discovery of the role of patch formation and properties of food web structure in shaping communities of sedentary organisms. These studies (of which several have become classics of marine ecology) have fundamentally changed the way in which we view marine benthic communities. This work has also served as an inspiration for innovation in the mathematical description of community processes and has had a lasting impact on our understanding of 'landscape dynamics', of equal importance to the development of the science of ecology and to conservation ecology.
Book 4: Marine Rocky Shores and Community Ecology: An Experimentalist's Perspective. (Published 1994)

Gene E. Likens (Millbrook, NY, USA), ECI Prize winner 1988 in limnetic ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: William D. Williams, Adelaide, Australia)

Gene Likens is a distinguished limnologist who has made salient contributions to many fields of limnology. In 1962 he initiated and developed (with F. H. Bormann) the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study in New Hampshire. Comprehensive investigations in this study provided a model for ecological and biogeochemical studies worldwide. A major finding of the study was that rain and snow are highly acidic. 'Acid rain' is now recognized as one of the major environmental hazards in North America, Europe and elsewhere. Elected to the American Academy of Sciences in 1979, and the National Academy of Sciences in 1981, Gene Likens is a highly worthy recipient of the 1988 ECI Prize in Limnetic Ecology.
Book 3: The Ecosystem Approach: Its Use and Abuse. (Published 1992)

Edward O. Wilson (Cambridge, MA, USA), ECI Prize winner 1987 in terrestrial ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: Sir Richard Southwood, Oxford, UK)

Professor E. O. Wilson is distinguished for his many contributions to different aspects of ecology and evolutionary biology. His life-time love of Nature, a theme explored in his book 'Biophilia', has been particularized in his study of ants leading to major new insights on the evolution of castes and the operation of social systems. His seminal 'Sociobiology', derived from this work, has founded a new branch of science, between ecology and the social sciences. With the late Robert MacArthur he was the originator of the modern theories of island biogeography that have contributed not only to the understanding of island biota, but to community and population ecology.
Book 2: Success and Dominance in Ecosystems: The Case of the Social Insects. (Published 1990) Photo: Jon Chase/Harvard

Tom Fenchel (Helsingør, Denmark), ECI Prize winner 1986 in marine ecology
Quotation of the Jury (Chairman: John Gray, Oslo, Norway)

The Jury found Professor T. Fenchel's contribution to ecological knowledge in a variety of research fields to be of the highest international class. In particular, the Jury cites his brilliant and uniquely important studies on the microbial loop which have opened up a fundamentally new research field. Professor Fenchel is, in addition, an excellent publicizer in his field of research with authorship of a number of standard works in marine ecology.
Book 1: Ecology - Potentials and Limitations. (Published 1987)