Faculty Achievement Recognition
The 2007 Honorees
Faculty Achievement Recognition
The 2007 Honorees
Robert D. Holt
Eminent Scholar, Arthur R. Marshall, Jr. Chair in Ecology
Department of Zoology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
2001
Degree earned:
Ph.D., Harvard University
Dr. Robert Holt received the very prestigious Ecology Institute Prize in Terrestrial Ecology from the International Ecology Institute in Germany, 2005. The summary of the Jury’s decision (written by Chairman Michel Loreau of Paris, France) follows:
Robert D. Holt has made significant theoretical contributions to population, community and evolutionary ecology during the last three decades. His early work on the role of predation on the structure of ecological communities has had a long-lasting influence on the way ecologists view communities, by showing that predation strongly affects the outcome of competitive interactions and is even the vehicle of new competitive interactions among species. Robert Holt’s work on the spatial dynamics of populations and communities has been equally influential; it has contributed to the emergence of the current interest in metacommunities and the relationship between local and regional ecological processes. The evolutionary dimension of ecological processes is one of his credos; he has had a special interest in the evolutionary response of species to a spatially heterogeneous environment. Although mainly theoretical, his work also has substantial implications for conservation biology. The Jury particularly valued the breadth of his views, the innovative nature of his approaches, and his efforts to link different areas of ecology and evolutionary biology.
