Robert Whittaker (ecologist)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Robert Whittaker" ecologist – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Robert Harding Whittaker
Born	(1920-12-27)December 27, 1920 Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
Died	October 20, 1980(1980-10-20) (aged 59) Ithaca, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Illinois
Known for	gradient theory in ecology five-kingdom system
Awards	Eminent Ecologist Award (1981)
Scientific career
Fields	Ecology
Institutions	Cornell University, Washington State University

Robert Harding Whittaker (December 27, 1920 – October 20, 1980) was an American plant ecologist, active from the 1950s to the 1970s. 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 1969.^[1][2] He also proposed the Whittaker Biome Classification, which categorized biome types upon two abiotic factors: temperature and precipitation. He proposed the concepts of Alpha diversity, Beta diversity, and Gamma diversity.^[3][4]

Whittaker was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1974, received the Ecological Society of America's Eminent Ecologist Award in 1981, 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.