O cientista que dividiu os seres vivos em cinco Reinos morreu há 38 anos

Robert Harding Whittaker (Wichita, Kansas, December 27, 1920 – Ithaca, New York, October 20, 1980) was a distinguished American plant ecologist, active in the 1950s to the 1970s.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, he obtained a B.A. at Washburn Municipal College (now Washburn University) in Topeka, Kansas, and, following military service, his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois.

He held teaching and research positions at Washington State College in Hanford, Washington, the Hanford National Laboratories (where he pioneered use of radioactive tracers in ecosystem studies), Brooklyn College, University of California-Irvine, and, finally Cornell University.

Extremely productive, Whittaker was a leading proponent and developer of gradient analysis to address questions in plant community ecology. He provided strong empirical evidence against some ideas of vegetation development advocated by Frederic Clements. Whittaker was most active in the areas of plant community analysis, succession, and productivity. "During his lifetime Whittaker was a major innovator of methodologies of community analysis and a leader in marshaling field data to document patterns in the composition, productivity and diversity of land plant communities." Thus Whittaker was innovative in both empirical data sampling techniques as well as synthesizing more holistic theories.

He was the first to propose the five-kingdom taxonomic classification of the world's biota into the Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera in 1959. He also proposed the Whittaker Biome Classification, which categorized biome-types upon two abiotic factors: temperature and precipitation.

Whittaker was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1974, received the Ecological Society of America's Eminent Ecologist Award in 1980, and was otherwise widely recognized and honored. He collaborated with many other ecologists including George Woodwell (Dartmouth), W. A. Niering, F. H. Bormann (Yale) and G. E. Likens (Cornell), and was particularly active in cultivating international collaborations.

 

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O Biólogo que criou a classificação dos seres vivos em 5 Reinos morreu há 33 anos

Robert Harding Whittaker (Wichita, Kansas, December 27, 1920 – Ithaca, New York, October 20, 1980) was a distinguished American plant ecologist, active in the 1950s to the 1970s.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, he obtained a B.A. at Washburn Municipal College (now Washburn University) in Topeka, Kansas, and, following military service, his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois.

He held teaching and research positions at Washington State College in Hanford, Washington, the Hanford National Laboratories (where he pioneered use of radioactive tracers in ecosystem studies), Brooklyn College, University of California-Irvine, and, finally Cornell University.

Extremely productive, Whittaker was a leading proponent and developer of gradient analysis to address questions in plant community ecology. He provided strong empirical evidence against some ideas of vegetation development advocated by Frederic Clements. Whittaker was most active in the areas of plant community analysis, succession, and productivity. "During his lifetime Whittaker was a major innovator of methodologies of community analysis and a leader in marshaling field data to document patterns in the composition, productivity and diversity of land plant communities." Thus Whittaker was innovative in both empirical data sampling techniques as well as synthesizing more holistic theories.

He was the first to propose the five-kingdom taxonomic classification of the world's biota into the Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera in 1959. He also proposed the Whittaker Biome Classification, which categorized biome-types upon two abiotic factors: temperature and precipitation.

Whittaker was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1974, received the Ecological Society of America's Eminent Ecologist Award in 1980, and was otherwise widely recognized and honored. He collaborated with many other ecologists including George Woodwell (Dartmouth), W. A. Niering, F. H. Bormann (Yale) and G. E. Likens (Cornell), and was particularly active in cultivating international collaborations.

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O taxonomista Whittaker morreu há 31 anos

Robert Whittaker (Wichita, 27 de dezembro de 1920 - Ithaca, 20 de outubro de 1980) foi um botânico e ecologista norte-americano. Propôs em 1969 uma classificação taxonómica da diversidade das espécies em cinco reinos, que são os seguintes:

• Monera : inclui os organismos procarióticos bactérias e algas azuis.
• Protista : os protozoários (seres eucarióticos, unicelulares e heterotróficos) e as algas (eucarióticos, unicelulares e autotróficos fotossintetizantes com pouca diferenciação das células)
• Fungi: os fungos, uni ou pluricelulares, heterotróficos e que não possuem tecido organizado.
• Plantae (ou Metaphyta): os vegetais, eucarióticos, multicelulares, que possuem clorofila e tecidos organizados (algas, briófitas, pteridófitas, gimnospermas e angiospermas)
• Animalia (ou Metazoa): todos os animais, multicelulares, heterotróficos, de células eucarióticas.

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