American Ecologist 1913-

Eugene Odum is an American ecologist who has worked to advance ecological awareness and research. Born in 1913 to an academic family, he spent most of the twentieth century promoting the ecosystem concept and warning of the impact humans have on the ecosystems in which we live. One of his most important accomplishments was writing Fundamentals of Ecology in 1953, which he wrote partly in response to the zoology department at the University of Georgia rejecting ecology as an important area of study. His book was remarkably clear and concise, and it presented the important principles of ecology in a way that helped to define the science.

Fundamentals of Ecology also brought the idea of an ecosystem to a wider audience at a time when the concept was just beginning to gain recognition among ecological specialists and ways to study ecosystems were just being developed...