Marine rocky shores and community ecology: an experimentalist's perspective
Robert T. Paine
Department of Zoology NJ-15, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Recipient of the International Ecology Institute (ECI) Prize 1989 in marine ecology
About the book
Book 4 focuses on population biology and community ecology of rocky intertidal assemblages, viewed from the perspectives of a naturalist and experimentalist. Its primary theme is that the facts garnered by observation or measurement of behaviour, abundance, distribution or habitat features, when explored by appropriate experiments, permit patterns to be explained in terms of their underlying processes.
About the author
Professor Robert T. Paine was elected by the ECI Jury chaired by Professor Tom Fenchel (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) for his substantial contributions to marine biology and ecology. Paine significantly advanced the understanding of the role of patch formation and of the properties of food web structure in shaping communities of sedentary organisms. His publications have served as guidelines for new mathematical descriptions of community processes, and they further our understanding of 'landscape dynamics' and the development of scientific and conservation ecology. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA), in 1933, our laureate graduated from Harvard College at Cambridge, and then went on to the University of Michigan, where he received his Ph.D. He is now Professor of Zoology at the University of Washington (USA).