John Lander Harper CBE FRS (27 May 1925 - 22 March 2009) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 biologist

Biologist

A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...

, specializing in ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

 and plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 population biology

Population biology

Population biology is a study of populations of organisms, especially the regulation of population size, life history traits such as clutch size, and extinction...

.

He was born in 1925 and educated at Lawrence Sheriff School

Lawrence Sheriff School

Lawrence Sheriff School is a selective boys' grammar school in Rugby in Warwickshire. The school is named after Lawrence Sheriff, the Elizabethan man who founded Rugby School. The school's name is often shortened to 'LSS', or often just 'Sheriff' by boys at the school. In a recent OFSTED ...

, Rugby. He obtained his degree in Botany in (1946) and his MA and MPhil (1950) from Oxford. After a further nine years conducting research at the Department of Agriculture, Oxford, and a sabbatical as Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at the University of California, Davis, he was in 1967 appointed head of Agricultural Botany at Bangor University

Bangor University

Bangor University is a university based in the city of Bangor in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales-United Kingdom.It was officially known for most of its history as the University College of North Wales...

 North Wales.

He served as president of the British Ecological Society

British Ecological Society

The British Ecological Society is a learned society in the field of ecology that was founded in 1913. It was the first ecological society in the world. The society's original objective was "to promote and foster the study of Ecology in its widest sense" and this remains the central theme guiding...

 (BES) (1966–1968) and of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology

European Society for Evolutionary Biology

The European Society for Evolutionary Biology was founded in 1987. It is publishing the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, organises meetings and biannually awards a John Maynard Smith Prize.As of 2007 its president is Isabelle Olivieri....

 (1993-1995).

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1978 and was their Darwin Medal

Darwin Medal

The Darwin Medal is awarded by the Royal Society every alternate year for "work of acknowledged distinction in the broad area of biology in which Charles Darwin worked, notably in evolution, population biology, organismal biology and biological diversity". First awarded in 1890, it was created in...

 recipient for 1990. He received the Millennium Botany Award in 1999 and the Marsh Ecology Award

Marsh Ecology Award

The Marsh Ecology Award is a prize awarded annually from 1996 onwards to recognise outstanding recent discovery or development which has had a significant impact on the development of the science of ecology or its application. The Award is an honorarium of £ 1,000 and is open to ecologists from...

 from the BES the same year. He was awarded CBE

CBE

CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...

 in 1989.

He has authored several textbook

Textbook

A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...

s on ecology and population biology.

The British Ecological Society

British Ecological Society

The British Ecological Society is a learned society in the field of ecology that was founded in 1913. It was the first ecological society in the world. The society's original objective was "to promote and foster the study of Ecology in its widest sense" and this remains the central theme guiding...

 awards the John L. Harper Young Investigator's prize annually to the best paper in Journal of Ecology

Journal of Ecology

The Journal of Ecology is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of the ecology of plants. It was established in 1913 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the British Ecological Society....

by a young author. He was a member of the British Humanist Association

British Humanist Association

The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...

.

Ecology text book

• 2006 - Ecology: from individuals to ecosystems
  Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems
  Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems is a 2006 higher education textbook on general ecology written by Michael Begon, Colin R. Townsend and John L. Harper. Published by Blackwell Publishing, it is now in its fourth edition. The first three editions were published by Blackwell Science under the...
  
  (4th edition) with Michael Begon and Colin R. Townsend ISBN 1405111178 (formerly known as Ecology: individuals, populations and communities, three editions (1986, 1990 and 1996), with Michael Begon and Colin R. Townsend ISBN 0632038012 (1996 edition))
• 2003 - Essentials of Ecology (2nd edition) with Michael Begon and Colin R. Townsend ISBN 1405103280

Scholarly books

• 1997 - Plant life histories : ecology, phylogeny, and evolution, Editor ISBN 0521574951
• 1977 - Population biology of plants ISBN 0123258502

Selected highly cited scientific papers

• Harper, J.L., J.T. Williams & G.R. Sagar (1965) The Behaviour of Seeds in Soil: I. The Heterogeneity of Soil surfaces and its Role in Determining the Establishment of Plants from Seed. Journal of Ecology 53 (2): 273-286. JStor
• J.L. Harper (1967) A Darwinian Approach to Plant Ecology. Journal of Ecology 55 (2): 247-270. JStor
• White, James & J.L. Harper (1970) Correlated Changes in Plant Size and Number in Plant Populations Journal of Ecology 58 (2): 467-485. JStor
• Harper, John L. & John Ogden (1970) The Reproductive Strategy of Higher Plants: I. The Concept of Strategy with Special Reference to Senecio vulgaris L. Journal of Ecology 58 (3): 681-698. JStor
• Ross, M.A. & John L. Harper (1972) Occupation of Biological Space During Seedling Establishment. Journal of Ecology 60 (1): 77-88. JStor