Crawford Stanley "Buzz" Holling, (December 6, 1930 – August 16, 2019) was a Canadian

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

, and Emeritus Eminent Scholar and Professor in Ecological Sciences at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. Holling was one of the conceptual founders of

ecological economics Ecological economics, bioeconomics, ecolonomy, eco-economics, or ecol-econ is both a transdisciplinary and an interdisciplinary field of academic research addressing the interdependence and coevolution of human economy, economies and natural ec ...

Biography

Crawford Stanley Holling was born in 1930 in the United States to Canadian parents. He grew up in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

, which was where he first became interested in nature. As a teenager he was a member of the Royal Ontario Museum's Toronto Junior Field Naturalists. Holling received his B.A. and M.Sc. at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1952 and his Ph.D. at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

in 1957. He worked for several years in the Canadian Department of Forestry in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. After working for Forestry Canada, Buzz Holling was, at various times, Professor and Director of the Institute of Animal Resource Ecology, University of British Columbia, Director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and Eminent Scholar, Arthur R. Marshall Jr. Chair in Ecological Sciences in the Department of Zoology at the University of Florida. He retired from the University of Florida in 1999, but remained on the faculty as an Emeritus Eminent Scholar. He was awarded two major awards from the

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

, the Mercer Award given to a young scientist in recognition of an outstanding paper in ecology in 1966, and the Eminent Ecologist Award for "outstanding contributions to the science of Ecology" in 1999. He also received the Kenneth Boulding Memorial Prize, in 2000, the Volvo Environment Prize in 2008, an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Guelph in 1998, and an Honorary Doctor of Science from the Simon Fraser University in 2011. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

, a foreign Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and has been awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. In 2009, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

"for his pioneering contributions to the field of ecology, notably for his work on ecosystem dynamics, resilience theory and ecological economics". He was founding editor-in-chief of the open access on-line journal ''Conservation Ecology'', now renamed '' Ecology and Society''. He was also the founder of the Resilience Alliance, an international science network.

Work

Throughout his research, C. S. Holling blended

systems theory Systems theory is the Transdisciplinarity, transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, de ...

and

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

with simulation modeling and policy analysis to develop integrative theories of change that have practical utility. He has introduced important ideas in the application of ecology and evolution, including resilience,

adaptive management Adaptive management, also known as adaptive resource management or adaptive environmental assessment and management, is a structured, iterative process of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty ove ...

, the adaptive cycle, and panarchy. His early work included major contributions to population and behavioural ecology. Later, he was among the first ecologists to recognize the importance of nonlinear dynamics. This early work on predation led to a series of papers, including his 1959 Citation Classic paper in the Canadian Entomologist, in which he developed the notion of functional response (the relationship between prey density and the rate at which prey is eaten), an idea that continues to be a linchpin of modern population ecology. His 1973 paper on the resilience of ecological systems had a substantial impact within ecology and other natural and social sciences. He has also contributed important ideas to ecological management, including

Adaptive management Adaptive management, also known as adaptive resource management or adaptive environmental assessment and management, is a structured, iterative process of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty ove ...

and the Adaptive Cycle. More recently his work on the cross-scale structure and dynamics of ecosystems has been highly influential. This work resulted in the 2002 book ''Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems''. His work is frequently cited in the fields of ecology,

environmental management Environmental resource management or environmental management is the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment. It is not, as the phrase might suggest, the management of the environment itself. Environment ...

and the human dimensions of global change.

Literature

C.S. Holling has edited or co-edited several books: * 1978. ''Adaptive environmental assessment and management''. (Editor) London: John Wiley & Sons. * 1995. ''Barriers and bridges to the renewal of ecosystems and institutions''. Edited with L. Gunderson and S. Light (editors) New York, NY: Columbia University Press. * 2002. ''Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems''. Edited with L. Gunderson, (editors) Washington, DC: Island Press. * 2008. ''Discontinuities in Ecosystems and Other Complex Systems''. Edited with Craig R. Allen, New York, NY : Columbia University Press. * 2010. ''Foundations of ecological resilience''. L. H. Gunderson, C. R. Allen, and C. S. Holling, (editors): Island Press. C.S. Holling's most cited articles include: * 1959 "The components of predation as revealed by a study of small mammal predation of the European Pine Sawfly". in: ''Canadian Entomologist''. Vol 91 : 293–320. * 1973. "Resilience and stability of ecological systems". in: ''Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics''. Vol 4 :1-23. * 1978, with D. Ludwig, D. and D.D. Jones. in: "Qualitative analysis of insect outbreak systems". ''Journal of Animal Ecology''. Vol 47 (1): 315–332. * 1990, with C.J. Walters, "Large-scale management experiments and learning by doing", in: ''Ecology''. Vol 71 (6): 2060-2068 * 1992, "Cross-scale Morphology, geometry, and dynamics of ecosystems". in: ''Ecological Monographs''. Vol 62 (4): 447-502 * 1996, with G.K. Meffe. "Command and control and the pathology of natural resource management". in: ''Conservation Biology''. Vol 10 (2): 328–337.

References

External links

Holling, Crawford Stanley
in the Canadian encyclopedia.
Resilience Alliance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holling, C.S. 1930 births 2019 deaths Canadian ecologists Canadian expatriate academics in the United States Officers of the Order of Canada Systems ecologists University of Florida faculty Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Ecological economists People from Theresa, New York Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the Ecological Society of America University of British Columbia alumni University of Toronto alumni Scientists from New York (state)