{{Short description|British biologist (1925–2009)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:John L. Harper.jpg|thumb|John L. Harper]]
'''John Lander Harper''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|FRS}} (27 May 1925 – 22 March 2009) was a British [[biologist]], specializing in [[ecology]] and [[plant]] [[population biology]].
== Life == He was born in 1925 and educated at [[Lawrence Sheriff School]], Rugby. He obtained his degree in Botany in (1946) and his MA and DPhil (1950) from Oxford with his doctoral thesis ''[https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:625f9c01-edbb-4d78-9386-6c32fae07e53 An investigation of the interaction of soil micro-organisms with special reference to the study of the bacterial population of plant root systems].'' Dr Harper spent 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 the newly formed School of Plant Biology at [[Bangor University]] North Wales.
He served as president of the [[British Ecological Society]] (BES) (1966–1968) and of the [[European Society for Evolutionary Biology]] (1993-1995).
He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1978 and was their [[Darwin Medal]] recipient for 1990.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27harper%27%29| title= Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher= Royal Society| accessdate= 9 January 2011}}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He received the [[Millennium Botany Award]] in 1999<ref>[http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/conferences/ibc99.html XVI International Botanical Congress 1-7 August 1999, Saint Louis: SUMMARY REPORT]</ref> and the Marsh Ecology Award from the BES the same year. He was awarded [[CBE]] in 1989.
He has authored several [[textbook]]s on ecology and population biology.
The [[British Ecological Society]] awards the John L. Harper Young Investigator's prize annually to the best [[scientific paper|paper]] in ''[[Journal of Ecology]]'' by a young author.<ref>British Ecological Society - [http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/journals_publications/journalofecology/index.php/ Journal of Ecology] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504143859/http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/journals_publications/journalofecology/index.php |date=2009-05-04 }}</ref> He was a member of the [[British Humanist Association]].<ref>the British Humanist Association. [http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentViewArticle.asp?article=1162 Distinguished Supporters of Humanism] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929091050/http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=1162 |date=2006-09-29 }}</ref>
He died on 22 March 2009.<ref>[https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/people/obituaries/john-harper-1925-2009/406308.article John Harper, 1925-2009]</ref>
==Publications== ===Ecology text book=== * 2006 - ''[[Ecology: from individuals to ecosystems]]'' (4th edition) with Michael Begon and Colin R. Townsend {{ISBN|1-4051-1117-8}} (formerly known as ''Ecology: individuals, populations and communities'', three editions (1986, 1990 and 1996), with Michael Begon and Colin R. Townsend {{ISBN|0-632-03801-2}} (1996 edition)) * 2003 - ''Essentials of Ecology'' (2nd edition) with Michael Begon and Colin R. Townsend {{ISBN|1-4051-0328-0}}
===Scholarly books=== <!--books; incomplete--> * 1997 - ''Plant life histories : ecology, phylogeny, and evolution'', Editor {{ISBN|0-521-57495-1}} * 1977 - ''Population biology of plants'' {{ISBN|0-12-325850-2}}
==Selected highly cited scientific papers== * [https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2257975 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.] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2257975 JStor] * [https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2257876 J.L. Harper (1967) ''A Darwinian Approach to Plant Ecology''. Journal of Ecology 55 (2): 247-270.] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2257876 JStor] * [https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2258284 White, James & J.L. Harper (1970) ''Correlated Changes in Plant Size and Number in Plant Populations'' Journal of Ecology 58 (2): 467-485.] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2258284 JStor] * [https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2258529 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.] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2258529 JStor] * [https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2258041 Ross, M.A. & John L. Harper (1972) ''Occupation of Biological Space During Seedling Establishment''. Journal of Ecology 60 (1): 77-88.] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2258041 JStor]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, John L.}} [[Category:1925 births]] [[Category:2009 deaths]] [[Category:British ecologists]] [[Category:British fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:British humanists]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:British non-fiction environmental writers]] [[Category:Presidents of the British Ecological Society]]