تاریخ محیط زیست
جدول زمانی از بوم شناسان

| شخص بر جسته | دوران زندگی | کار اصلی |
| --- | --- | --- |
| آنتونی فان لیوونهوک | 1632–1723 | First to develop concept of food chains |
| کارل لینه | 1707–1778 | Influential naturalist, inventor of science on the economy of nature |
| الکساندر فون هومبولت | 1769–1859 | First to describe ecological gradient of latitudinal biodiversity increase toward the tropics in 1807 |
| چارلز داروین | 1809–1882 | Founder of the hypothesis of evolution by means of natural selection, founder of ecological studies of soils |
| Elizabeth Catherine Thomas Carne | 1817-1873 | Geologist, mineralogist and philosopher who observed rural vs urban living, spatially and culturally, finding in country living the best attack on suffocating class divides, healthier living, and best access to natural education. |
| هربرت اسپنسر | 1820–1903 | Early founder of social ecology, coined the phrase 'survival of the fittest' |
| Karl Möbius | 1825–1908 | First to develop concept of ecological community, biocenosis, or living community |
| ارنست هکل | 1834–1919 | Invented the term ecology, popularized research links between ecology and evolution |
| Victor Hensen | 1835–1924 | Invented term plankton, developed quantitative and statistical measures of productivity in the seas |
| اوژین وارمینگ | 1841–1924 | Early founder of Ecological Plant Geography |
| الن سوالو ریچاردز | 1842–1911 | Pioneer and educator who linked urban ecology to human health |
| Stephen Forbes | 1844–1930 | Early founder of entomology and ecological concepts in 1887 |
| ویتو ولترا | 1860–1940 | Independently pioneered mathematical populations models around the same time as Alfred J. Lotka. |
| Vladimir Vernadsky | 1869–1939 | Founded the biosphere concept |
| Henry C. Cowles | 1869–1939 | Pioneering studies and conceptual development in studies of ecological succession |
| Jan Christiaan Smuts | 1870–1950 | Coined the term holism in a 1926 book Holism and Evolution. |
| آرتور تانزلی | 1871–1955 | First to coin the term ecosystem in 1936 and notable researcher |
| چارلز کریستوفر آدامز | 1873–1955 | Animal ecologist, biogeographer, author of first American book on animal ecology in 1913, founded ecological energetics |
| فریدریش راتسلر | 1844–1904 | German geographer who first coined the term biogeography in ۱۸۹۱. |
| Frederic Clements | 1874–1945 | Authored the first influential American ecology book in 1905 |
| ویکتور ارنست شلفورد | 1877–1968 | Founded physiological ecology, pioneered food-web and biome concepts, founded The Nature Conservancy |
| Alfred J. Lotka | 1880–1949 | First to pioneer mathematical populations models explaining trophic (predator-prey) interactions using logistic equation |
| Henry Gleason | 1882–1975 | Early ecology pioneer, quantitative theorist, author, and founder of the individualistic concept of ecology |
| Charles S. Elton | 1900–1991 | 'Father' of animal ecology, pioneered food-web & niche concepts and authored influential Animal Ecology text |
| G. Evelyn Hutchinson | 1903–1991 | Limnologist and conceptually advanced the niche concept |
| یوجین اودم | 1913–2002 | Co-founder of ecosystem ecology and ecological thermodynamic concepts |
| هوارد تی. اودم | 1924–2002 | Co-founder of ecosystem ecology and ecological thermodynamic concepts |
| Robert MacArthur | 1930–1972 | Co-founder on Theory of Island Biogeography and innovator of ecological statistical methods |