from Wikipedia.org

W. C. Allee ranks among the leading twentieth century ecologists, especially for his work in behavioral and animal ecology. Breaking away from the early twentieth century emphasis in ecology on succession studies, Allee and his many students explored the role of the physical environment in influencing distribution patterns in animals; meanwhile, he became increasingly interested in how behavioral patterns influence social aggregation characteristics. Among his conclusions was the notion that social cooperation tended to outweigh competition in higher animals. He also became interested in the characteristics of social hierarchies and attempted to apply his ideas to human social organization. Allee's approach to ecology contrasted with that adopted by the followers of Elton and Hutchinson, who dwelled more on the organizing effects of trophic relations, competition, and limiting factors.

Life Chronology

--born near Bloomingdale, Indiana, on 5 June 1885.
--1908: B.S., Earlham College
--1910: M.S., University of Chicago
--1912: Ph.D., University of Chicago (student of Victor Shelford)
--1912-1913: instructor in botany, University of Illinois
--1913-1914: instructor in zoology, Williams College
--1914-1915: assistant professor, zoology, University of Oklahoma
--1914-1921: summer instructor at the Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
--1915-1921: professor of biology, Lake Forest College
--1921: hired as assistant professor of zoology, University of Chicago
--1925-1927: dean in the colleges, University of Chicago
--1928-1950: professor of zoology, University of Chicago
--1928-1954: editor, Physiological Zoology
--1929: president, Ecological Society of America
--1931: publishes his Animal Aggregations: A Study in General Sociology
--1936: president, American Society of Zoologists
--1938: has surgeries for a spinal tumor; becomes paralyzed from waist down
--1938: publishes his The Social Life of Animals
--1940: honorary LL.D., Earlham College
--1949: first author of Principles of Animal Ecology
--1950-1955: chairman of the zoology department, University of Florida
--1951: elected to the National Academy of Sciences
--dies at Gainesville, Florida, on 18 March 1955.

For Additional Information, See:

--Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.), Vol. 30 (1957).     Malvina Reynolds
--American National Biography, Vol. 1 (1999).
--Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 17 (1990).
--Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists (1997).
--Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 21 (1985): 345-353.
--Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, Vol. 36(3) (1955): 99-100.
--Science, Vol. 121(3150) (1955): 686-687.
--Ecology, Vol. 37(2) (1956): 211-213.

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Copyright 2005 by Charles H. Smith. All rights reserved.
http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/ALLE1885.htm

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