Shelford, Victor Ernest

Shelford, Victor Ernest 

Born Sept. 22, 1877, in Chemung, N.Y.; died Dec. 27, 1968. American zoologist; specialist in ecology, primarily the ecology of aquatic organisms. First president of the Ecological Society of America.

Between 1904 and 1914, Shelford worked at the University of Chicago. Beginning in 1914, he worked at the University of Illinois, where he held the rank of professor from 1927 to 1946.

Shelford’s main works dealt with biocenology—with its theory and terminology and with the methodology of field and laboratory studies. In addition to hydrobiological experiments, Shelford studied the interaction of organisms in terrestrial communities, the effect of climate on a community, and succession. He worked on the classification of mixed communities. Shelford was the first to describe the nature of North America from the ecological point of view.

WORKS

Laboratory and Field Ecology. Baltimore, Md., 1929.
“Ecological Succession: 2—Pond Fishes.” Biological Bulletin of the Marine Biological Laboratory, 1911–12, vols. 21–23.
Animal Communities in Temperate America. Chicago, III., 1913.
“Principles and Problems of Ecology.” Journal of Ecology, 1915, vol. 3, no. 1.
“Some Concepts of Bioecology.” Ecology, 1931, vol. 12, no. 3.
Bio-ecology, 2nd ed. New York-London, 1946. (With F. E. Clements.)
The Ecology of North America, 2nd ed. Urbana, 111., 1963.