biology

Ramon Margalef

Ramon Margalef is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ramon Margalef rather than just read about it. In short: Ramon Margalef López (Barcelona 16 May 1919 - 23 May 2004) was a Catalan biologist and ecologist. He was Emeritus Professor of Ecology at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona.

Key takeaways

Ramon Margalef belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ramon Margalef to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ramon Margalef from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ramon Margalef López (Barcelona 16 May 1919 - 23 May 2004) was a Catalan biologist and ecologist. He was Emeritus Professor of Ecology at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona. Margalef, one of the most prominent scientists that Spain has produced, worked at the Institute of Applied Biology (1946–1951), and at the Fisheries Research Institute, which he directed during 1966–1967. He created the Department of Ecology of the University of Barcelona, from where he trained a huge number of ecologists, limnologists and oceanographers. In 1967 he became Spain's first professor of ecology.

Career summary From 1954 to 1974 Margalef contributed to the New York-based magazine Iberica. In 1957, with the translation into English of his inaugural lecture as a member of the Barcelona Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, "Information Theory in Ecology", he gained a worldwide audience. Another groundbreaking article, "On certain unifying principles in ecology", published in American Naturalist in 1963, and his book "Perspectives in Ecological Theory" (1968), based on his guest lectures at the University of Chicago, consolidated him as one of the leading thinkers of modern ecology. In the summer of 1958 he was professor of Marine ecology at the Institute of Marine Biology (currently Department of Marine Sciences) of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and produced the work Comunidades Naturales ("Natural Communities"). Some of his most important work includes the application of information theory to ecological studies and the creation of mathematical models for the study of populations. Among his books, the most influential are: Natural Communities (1962), Perspectives In Ecological Theory (1968), Ecology (1974), The Biosphere (1980), Limnology (1983) and Theory of Ecological Systems (1991). He received many scientific awards, including the inaugural medal of the A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences, the Naumann-Thienemann Medal from the International Society of Limnology (SIL), the Ramón y Cajal Award of the Spanish Government, and the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia (Catalan Government). In 2004, the Government of Catalonia established the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology, whereas the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography established the Ramón Margalef Award for Excellence in Education in 2008.

Selected publications Full list of publications by Professor Margalef Archived 2021-09-02 at the Wayback Machine

Papers Margalef, Ramon (1960). "Ideas for a synthetic approach to the ecology of running waters". Internationale Revue der Gesamten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie. 45 (45): 133–153. doi:10.1002/iroh.19600450108. —— (1963). "On certain unifying principles in ecology". The American Naturalist. 97 (897): 357–374. doi:10.1086/282286. hdl:10261/165895. S2CID 85866107. —— (1978). "Life-forms of phytoplankton as survival alternatives in an unstable environment". Oceanol. Acta (1): 493–509. —— (1961). "Communication of Structure in Planktonic Populations". Limnology and Oceanography. 6 (2): 124–128. Bibcode:1961LimOc...6..124M. doi:10.4319/lo.1961.6.2.0124. hdl:10261/165801. —— (1979). "The Organization of Space". Oikos. 33 (2): 152–159. doi:10.2307/3543992. JSTOR 3543992. —— (1964). "Correspondence between the classic types of lakes and the structural and dynamic properties of their populations". SIL Proceedings, 1922-2010. 15 (1): 169–175. doi:10.1080/03680770.1962.11895518.

Books —— (1962). Comunidades naturales. Mayagüez: Instituto de Biología Marina de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. —— (1968). Perspectives in ecological theory. University of Chicago Press. —— (1974). Ecología. Barcelona: Omega. ——; Planas M.D., Armengol J., Vidal A., Prat N., Guisset A., Toja J., Estrada M. (1976). Limnología de los embalses españoles. Madrid: Dirección General de Obras Hidraúlicas.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) —— (1980). La biosfera: entre la termodinámica y el juego. Barcelona: Omega. (1982). Mi respuesta, collection of his articles published in Ibérica —— (1983). Limnología. Barcelona: Omega. —— (1992). Planeta azul, planeta verde. Barcelona: Prensa Científica SA. —— (1994). Limnology now: a paradigm of planetary problems. Amsterdam: Elsevier. —— (1997). Our biosphere. Oldendorf: Ecology Institute.

See also Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology

References

External links Biographical page in memory of Ramon Margalef (most of Margalef's scientific papers as PDFs, pictures, awards, etc.) Full list of publications by Professor Margalef Archived 2021-09-02 at the Wayback Machine Biographical page at Ramon Margalef Prize website Ramon Margalef publications indexed by Google Scholar Espai Margalef (University of Barcelona Library)Digital.CSIC. Fons digitalitzat de les publicacions de Ramon Margalef per la biblioteca de l'Institut de Ciencies del Mar de Barcelona. Digital CSIC. Digitized collection of Ramon Margalef's publications by the library of the Institut de Ciences del Mar, Barcelona.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ramon Margalef

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ramon Margalef claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ramon Margalef before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ramon Margalef ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ramon Margalef

In research: Ramon Margalef appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ramon Margalef in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ramon Margalef is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1919 births, 2004 deaths, Academic staff of the University of Barcelona, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ramon Margalef outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Ramon Margalef in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ramon Margalef means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ramon Margalef out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ramon Margalef in simple terms?

Ramon Margalef López (Barcelona 16 May 1919 - 23 May 2004) was a Catalan biologist and ecologist. He was Emeritus Professor of Ecology at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona.

Why does Ramon Margalef matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ramon Margalef?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ramon Margalef.