G. E. Hutchinson

Bio: G. E. Hutchinson is an academic researcher from Yale University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Biosphere. The author has an hindex of 18, co-authored 31 publications receiving 8068 citations.

The Paradox of the Plankton

Abstract: The problem that I wish to discuss in the present contribution is raised by the very paradoxical situation of the plankton, particularly the phytoplankton, of relatively large bodies of water. We know from laboratory experiments conducted by many workers over a long period of time (summary in Provasoli and Pintner, 1960) that most members of the phytoplankton are phototrophs, able to reproduce and build up populations in inorganic media containing a source of CO2, inorganic nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus compounds and a considerable number of other elements (Na, K, Mg, Ca, Si, Fe, Mn, B, C1, Cu, Zn, Mo, Co and V) most of which are required in small concentrations and not all of which are known to be required by all groups. In addition, a number of species are known which require one or more vitamins, namely thiamin, the cobalamines (B or related compounds), or biotin. The problem that is presented by the phytoplankton is essentially how it is possible for a number of species to coexist in a relatively isotropic or unstructured environment all competing for the same sorts of materials. The problem is particularly acute because there is adequate evidence from enrichment experiments that natural waters, at least in the summer, present an environment of striking nutrient deficiency, so that competition is likely to be extremely severe. According to the principle of competitive exclusion (Hardin, 1960) known by many names and developed over a long period of time by many investigators (see Rand, 1952; Udvardy, 1959; and Hardin, 1960, for historic reviews), we should expect that one species alone would outcompete all the others so that in a final equilibrium situation the assemblage would reduce to a population of a single species. The principle of competitive exclusion has recently been under attack from a number of quarters. Since the principle can be deduced mathematically from a relatively simple series of postulates, which with the ordinary postulates of mathematics can be regarded as forming an axiom system, it follows that if the objections to the principle in any cases are valid, some or all the biological axioms introduced are in these cases incorrect. Most objections to the principle appear to imply the belief that equilibrium under a given set of environmental conditions is never in practice obtained. Since the deduction of the principle implies an equilibrium system, if such sys-

The thermal classification of lakes.

Abstract: 2 R. Caldecott, B. H. Beard, and C. 0. Gardner, Genetics, 39, 240-259, 1954. 3R. C. King, Genetics, 40, 490-499, 1955. 4 M. S. Cave and S. W. Brown, Am. J. Botany, 41, 455-569, 1954. P. Weatherwax, Bull. Torrey Botan. Club, 47, 73-90, 1919. 6 W. R. Singleton and F. J. Clark, Genetics, 25, 136; L. J. Stadler and H. Roman, Genetics, 28, 91, 1943; L. J. Stadler and G. F. Sprague, Science, 85, 57-58, 1937. 7D. W. Barton, Cytologia, 19, 157-175, 1954. 8 A. E. Longley, Report of the Naval Medical Research Section, Joint Task Force One, on Biological Aspects of Atomic Bomb Tests (1950), Appendix 10. 9 A. Hannah, Advances in Genet., 4, 87-121, 1951. 10 C. F. Konzak and W. R. Singleton (in press, 1956). 11 W. R. Singleton, Genetics, 39, 587-603, 1954. 12 W. R. Singleton and A. L. Caspar, Records Genet. Soc. Amer., 23, 66, 1954.

Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs.

Abstract: The commonly observed high diversity of trees in tropical rain forests and corals on tropical reefs is a nonequilibrium state which, if not disturbed further, will progress toward a low-diversity equilibrium community. This may not happen if gradual changes in climate favor different species. If equilibrium is reached, a lesser degree of diversity may be sustained by niche diversification or by a compensatory mortality that favors inferior competitors. However, tropical forests and reefs are subject to severe disturbances often enough that equilibrium may never be attained.

The Population Ecology of Organizations

Abstract: Factors impacting the organizational structure of firms have been analyzed often utilizing organizations theory. However, several other theories and perspectives have been proposed as potential alternative means of analyzing organizational structure and functioning. While previous studies regarding organizational structure have utilized such perspectives as adaptation and exchange theory, few studies have utilized population ecology theory, thus leading to the current study. Although population ecology theory is most often used in the biological sciences, many of its principles lend well to organizational analysis. Due to internal structural arrangements (e.g. information constraints, political constraints) and environmental pressures (e.g. legal and fiscal barriers, legitimacy) of an organization, the inflexibility of an organization limits the firm's organizational analysis utilizing an adaptation perspective. The challenges and discontinuities associated with utilizing an ecological perspective are identified, including issues related to the primary sources of change (selection and adaptive learning) and related to differentiating between selection and viability. Utilizing competition theory and niche theory, several models for analyzing organizational diversity are incorporated to address factors not encompassed by ecological theory. By compiling elements of several theories, a population ecology model applicable to business related organizational analyses is derived. (AKP)

Toward a metabolic theory of ecology

Abstract: Metabolism provides a basis for using first principles of physics, chemistry, and biology to link the biology of individual organisms to the ecology of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Metabolic rate, the rate at which organisms take up, transform, and expend energy and materials, is the most fundamental biological rate. We have developed a quantitative theory for how metabolic rate varies with body size and temperature. Metabolic theory predicts how metabolic rate, by setting the rates of resource uptake from the environment and resource allocation to survival, growth, and reproduction, controls ecological processes at all levels of organization from individuals to the biosphere. Examples include: (1) life history attributes, including devel- opment rate, mortality rate, age at maturity, life span, and population growth rate; (2) population interactions, including carrying capacity, rates of competition and predation, and patterns of species diversity; and (3) ecosystem processes, including rates of biomass production and respiration and patterns of trophic dynamics. Data compiled from the ecological literature strongly support the theoretical predictions. Even- tually, metabolic theory may provide a conceptual foundation for much of ecology, just as genetic theory provides a foundation for much of evolutionary biology.

Mechanisms of Maintenance of Species Diversity

Abstract: ▪ Abstract The focus of most ideas on diversity maintenance is species coexistence, which may be stable or unstable. Stable coexistence can be quantified by the long-term rates at which community members recover from low density. Quantification shows that coexistence mechanisms function in two major ways: They may be (a) equalizing because they tend to minimize average fitness differences between species, or (b) stabilizing because they tend to increase negative intraspecific interactions relative to negative interspecific interactions. Stabilizing mechanisms are essential for species coexistence and include traditional mechanisms such as resource partitioning and frequency-dependent predation, as well as mechanisms that depend on fluctuations in population densities and environmental factors in space and time. Equalizing mechanisms contribute to stable coexistence because they reduce large average fitness inequalities which might negate the effects of stabilizing mechanisms. Models of unstable coexitence...

Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity

Abstract: It is suggested that local animal species diversity is related to the number of predators in the system and their efficiency in preventing single species from monopolizing some important, limiting, requisite. In the marine rocky intertidal this requisite usually is space. Where predators capable of preventing monopolies are missing, or are experimentally removed, the systems become less diverse. On a local scale, no relationship between latitude (10⚬ to 49⚬ N.) and diversity was found. On a geographic scale, an increased stability of annual production may lead to an increased capacity for systems to support higher-level carnivores. Hence tropical, or other, ecosystems are more diverse, and are characterized by disproportionately more carnivores.