Bio-Ecology

Hutchinson, Gillian; Clements, F. E.; Shelford, V. E.

doi:10.2307/1930493

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Lindeman wrote his paper while a post-doctoral student with G. Evelyn Hutchinson of Yale University, who had been considering similar themes (Hutchinson, 1940). Through his reading of Victor Goldschmidt's works on geochemistry and Vladimir Vernadsky's explication of his biosphere concept, his own limnological studies of Linsley Pond, and his commitment to equilibrium, Hutchinson developed a theoretical understanding of the "metabolism" of ecosystems.…”

Section: Early Ecosystem Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecosystem: research and practice in North America

Bocking

2013

Web Ecol.

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Abstract. Since the early 1940s, the ecosystem approach has been developed in a variety of forms by North American ecologists. Lindeman established its foundation, with his focus on functional components and energy transfers between trophic levels; this view was developed further by several ecologists, including G. Evelyn Hutchinson, and H. T. and E. P. Odum. Ecosystem ecology eventually became closely associated with powerful American institutions, such as the Atomic Energy Commission, receiving ample support; in association with the International Biological Program it became known as "big ecology". More recently, ecosystem ecology has exhibited strengthened interest in spatial patterns, the role of species in ecosystems, and global change. This history has encompassed various ontological, methodological, ethical and political claims regarding the place of this approach in the discipline of ecology and in environmental governance.

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Section: Early Ecosystem Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecosystem: research and practice in North America

Bocking

2013

Web Ecol.

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“…This built on an analogy Hutchinson offered in 1940. Reviewing a book by Frederick Clements, he stated: ‘If, as is insisted, the community is an organism, it should be possible to study the metabolism of that organism’ (Hutchinson, 1940, p. 268). There are strong epistemic commonalities between tracer methodology in biochemistry and in ecology—radioisotopes helped give ‘ecosystem’ a concrete meaning, as well as elucidating intracellular metabolic pathways from photosynthesis to glycolysis (Creager, 2006).…”

Section: Concluding Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phosphorus-32 in the Phage Group: radioisotopes as historical tracers of molecular biology

Creager

2009

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in

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The recent historiography of molecular biology features key technologies, instruments and materials, which offer a different view of the field and its turning points than preceding intellectual and institutional histories. Radioisotopes, in this vein, became essential tools in postwar life science research, including molecular biology, and are here analyzed through their use in experiments on bacteriophage. Isotopes were especially well suited for studying the dynamics of chemical transformation over time, through metabolic pathways or life cycles. Scientists labeled phage with phosphorus-32 in order to trace the transfer of genetic material between parent and progeny in virus reproduction. Initial studies of this type did not resolve the mechanism of generational transfer but unexpectedly gave rise to a new style of molecular radiobiology based on the inactivation of phage by the radioactive decay of incorporated phosphorus-32. These ‘suicide experiments’, a preoccupation of phage researchers in the mid-1950s, reveal how molecular biologists interacted with the traditions and practices of radiation geneticists as well as those of biochemists as they were seeking to demarcate a new field. The routine use of radiolabels to visualize nucleic acids emerged as an enduring feature of molecular biological experimentation.

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“…1903) was a regular participant at the Macy conferences. Earlier in the 1940s he had characterized his contemporaries' accounts of ecological communities as overly classificatory and had pointed to the need for a means of quantitative analysis and theoretical treatment of the community's "metabolism" (Hutchinson 1940). In this spirit, Hutchinson had sponsored the short career of Raymond Lindeman, whose pioneering work analyzed the energy flow through ascending trophic levels, that is, from plants through herbivores to carnivores.…”

Section: The Search For Physical Analogiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem as circuits: diagrams and the limits of physical analogies

Taylor

Blum

1991

Biol Philos

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Diagrams refer to the phenomena overtly represented, to analogous phenomena, and to previous pictures and their graphic conventions. The diagrams of ecologists Clarke, Hutchinson, and H.T. Odum reveal their search for physical analogies, building on the success of World War II science and the promise of cybernetics. H.T. Odum's energy circuit diagrams reveal also his aspirations for a universal and natural means of reducing complexity to guide the management of diverse ecological and social systems. Graphic conventions concerning framing and translation of ecological processes onto the flat printed page facilitate Odum's ability to act as if ecological relations were decomposable into systems and could be managed by analysts external to the system.

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Bio-Ecology

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

The ecosystem: research and practice in North America

The ecosystem: research and practice in North America

Phosphorus-32 in the Phage Group: radioisotopes as historical tracers of molecular biology

Ecosystem as circuits: diagrams and the limits of physical analogies

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