Dr. Edward 0. Wilson

Dr. Edward 0. Wilson (E.O. Wilson) was born June 10,  1929, in Birmingham, Alabama. He was recognized as the world’s leading authority on ants. he also was the foremost proponent of sociobiology. In his early childhood days, Wilson was amazed with nature and all of its creatures. After a fishing accident,

Dr. Wilson was left blind in one eye. This made it difficult for him to study birds and other animals in the field. He then decided to study insects. He switched his studies to insects because he can look at them through a microscope. While Dr. Wilson was in high school, he discovered the first colony of fire ants in the U.S. Wilson received both his B.S. and M.S. in biology at the University of Alabama. He later received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1955. Wilson also was a Junior Fellow in Harvard’s Society of fellows from the year 1953-1956. Throughout this period, Wilson took a series of research field trips. These trips took Wilson to many parts of the South Pacific  and New World tropics.

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In the early years of Dr. Wilson’s career, he conducted work on the classifications and ecology of ants. The type of places he worked were New Guinea, Pacific Islands, and in the American Tropics. In 1963, Wilson’s conception of species equilibrium, led him to the theory of island biogeography. The late Robert H. Macarthur, helped Dr. Wilson develop the theory. In their theory they stated “immigration and distinction, also along with the determinates of biodiversity at the species level, were tied to the area and the basic properties of ecology and demography”. The theory was culminated into their 1967 book, The TheoryoflslandBiogeography. This book has been a standard reference ever since its release. This theory has become an important part of conservation biology and influenced the discipline of ecology greatly. “Applying to ‘habitat islands’, such as forests in a sea of agricultural land, it has influenced the planning and assessment of parks and reserves around the world”. ( Accodring to EOWILSONFOUNDATION.ORG)With the help of his student Daniel Simberloff, in the late 60’s, he set up experiments that tested his theory in the Florida Keys. He also added his knowledge of the process of species immigration and extinction. During the late 50’s and 60’s, Dr. Wilson played a key role in developing the new field of chemical ecology. With multiple collaborators, he worked out much of thepheromone language of ants. With William H. Bossert of Harvard University, he created the first general theory of properties of chemical communication.  Since all plants and organisms communicate most of the time by chemical signals, the importance of this work has been immense.

By the late 70’s, Wilson got involved in the global conversations. He added to and promoted biodiversity research. In 1984 Dr. Wilson published the book Biophilia.This book explored the evolutionary and psychological basis of the attraction humanity has to the natural environment. This work is what helped introduce the word biophilia into the language. It also was influential in shaping the modem conservation ethic. In 1988, Wilson edited the Biodiversityvolume, based on the first United States national conference on the subject. This also introduced the term biodiversity to the language. This work influenced the creation of the modem field of biodiversity studies. In 1992, Wilson published the book The DiversityofLife.This synthesized the principles and the most important issues of biodiversity.

Early in the 70’s, Dr. Wilson published a second synthesis, The Insect Societies.This formulated the knowledge of the behavior of ants, social bees, social wasps, and termites, on a foundation of population biology. He introduced the concept of a new discipline, sociobiology, and the systematic study of biological basis in social behavior in all kinds of organisms. In 1975, he published another synthesis, Sociobiology:TheNewSynthesis.This one extended the subject to vertebrates and also united it closer to evolutionary biology.