Clements, Frederic Edward

Japanese: クレメンツ（英語表記）Clements, Frederic Edward

Born September 16, 1874 in Lincoln, Nebraska
Died July 26, 1945. Santa Barbara, California. American botanist. His father was a photographer. He graduated from the University of Nebraska. He was a professor at the same university and head of the botany department at the University of Minnesota, and then a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science (1917-41). During that time, he produced many research results in plant ecology, one of which is the theory of succession. The type of plant that dominates a plant community (→ dominant species) changes over time, and a certain regularity is observed in this phenomenon (called plant succession). In 1916, he put forward the following theory regarding the mechanism of this phenomenon: By growing in a certain area, plants affect and modify the environment, creating an environment that is more suitable for other types of plants. As a result, the original plants lose out in interspecific competition and give way to new plants. This repetition is called succession. The significance of the theory of succession is recognized as having established the concept of interactions between organisms and the environment in ecology. He also believed that succession had an end point, which he called a climax, and claimed that the climax was determined primarily by the climate of the land, but this was met with much opposition, and the debate over its validity stimulated the development of ecology. His theory of succession included the view that a plant community was an organism, and later, together with animal ecologist Victor Ernest Shelford, he proposed to consider plant communities and the animal communities that live there as an organic unit, giving this unit the name biome (1927).

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

[生]1874.9.16. ネブラスカ，リンカーン
[没]1945.7.26. カリフォルニア，サンタバーバラ
アメリカ合衆国の植物学者。父は写真家。ネブラスカ大学出身。同大学教授，ミネソタ大学植物学科主任を経て，カーネギー研究所研究員（1917～41）。その間，植物生態学で数多くの研究成果をあげたが，なかでも遷移理論は重要である。植物群落のなかで優位を占める植物の種類（→優占種）は，時間がたつにつれて移り変っていき，しかもそこに一定の規則性が認められる現象（植物遷移と呼ばれる）の機構に関し，彼は 1916年に次のような理論を立てた。植物は，その土地に生育することを通じて環境に働きかけてこれを改変し，別の種類の植物にとってより好適な環境をつくり上げる。その結果，もとから生えていた植物は種間競争に敗れ，新しい植物にその座を譲る。これの反復が遷移である。遷移理論の意義は，生物と環境の相互作用という概念を，生態学のなかに定着させたことに認められている。彼はまた遷移には終着点があるとみてそれを極相と呼び，極相はその土地の気候のみによって一義的に決定されると主張したが，これに対しては反対意見も多く出され，その妥当性をめぐる論議は生態学の発達に刺激を与えた。彼の遷移理論には，植物群落を一つの有機体とみる立場が現れており，のちに動物生態学者のビクター・アーネスト・シェルフォードと共同で，植物群落とそこにすむ動物群集とをひとまとめにして有機的な単位とみなすことを提唱し，この単位にバイオームの名を与えた（1927）。

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