ROBERT WHITTAKER: BIOGRAPHY, CLASSIFICATION, CONTRIBUTIONS - ARTE - 2025

Robert Whittaker (1920-1980) was an ecologist and biologist of American origin who in some three decades of career dedicated his life to intellectual production in the service of science. Basically he is known for his theory in which he organizes living beings into five kingdoms: fungi, monera, animalia, protista and plantae.

To propose this classification, he took into account the cellular organization and the form of nutrition of living beings. His proposal replaced the old classification schemes that came from the Aristotelian system that only contemplated two kingdoms: animals and plants.

Before Whittaker's classification, fungi were considered part of the plant kingdom. Source: pixabay.com

Its classification is so broad that it remains in force today and earned it its incorporation in 1974 to the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. In 1980, the same year he passed away, he was honored with the "Eminent Ecologist" award from the Ecological Society of America.

Biography

Robert Harding Whittaker was born on December 27, 1920 in the state of Kansas, specifically in Wichita County, the largest and most important city in that state.

He studied biology at Washburn University located in Topeka. There she obtained her degree in 1942.

Shortly after graduating, as was his duty, he enlisted in the US Army and fulfilled his military commitments, particularly in aviation. There he was serving in the department of meteorology stationed in England during World War II.

Upon his return from the battlefront, he resumed his studies until obtaining a doctorate in 1948 at the University of Illinois. On this campus he dedicated himself to work and research as an ecologist.

It can be said that at that time he began his career as a researcher and teacher, since on that campus he developed the implementation of radioactive markers in the analysis of ecosystems and thus became one of the pioneers in the field.

Married and academic life

During his career Whittaker worked in two laboratories: at Hanford and at Brookhaven. In the first one he met his former wife, Clara Buehl, with whom he had three children whom they named John, Paul and Carl.

In the academic field, he held positions in three educational institutions, but actually his home for research and work was Cornell University, where he stayed until the end of his days.

In 30 years of consummate scientific work studying living things, teaching and innovating in the field of ecology and biology, Whittaker stood out for his proposal to classify all living things into five kingdoms.

This ecologist is known to have authored or co-authored about seven annual publications in major and reputable scientific journals while at Cornell University.

During his career Whittaker earned various awards and accolades. For example, in 1966 he and his colleague William A. Niering received an award from the Ecological Society of America for the work he had been doing.

Likewise, in 1971 he was appointed vice president of this society and the same year in which he died (in 1980) he received the highest honor: the "Ecologist of the year" award.

Although his professional life was marvelous and he collected the honeys of his scientific discoveries, in 1974 tragedy knocked on his door. His wife was diagnosed with cancer and about three years later passed away.

New nuptials and death

However, Whittaker managed to overcome the mourning and found love again in one of his doctoral students, Linda Olsving, whom he married in 1979.

The birth and maturity of this new love was very fast: in less than five years he was already in the process of formalizing the marriage.

At the age of 60, he died of cancer in Wichita, the city where he was born, becoming one of the most important characters in this town.

Classification

It is known that in the 4th century BC. C. it was Aristotle who designed the first taxonomy to differentiate living beings, basically in two kingdoms: animals and plants.

This postulate was used immovably until the 19th century, when scientists began to notice more obviously that single-celled organisms did not fit into either kingdom.

This is how the classification of the Protist kingdom proposed by the philosopher and naturalist Ernest Haeckel in 1866 was established.

Although there were already advanced studies on photosynthesis as the way in which plants obtain their nutrients and that fungi obtain their food through absorption and not by photosynthesis, these beings still fit into the kingdom of plants.

The scientific literature maintained this classification of three kingdoms until in 1969 Robert Whittaker proposed the taxonomy of five kingdoms.

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Whittaker made use of all the scientific advances related to the techniques and materials available in a laboratory, such as observation at the microscopic level, to break once and for all with the paradigm that considered living beings as animals or plants, and if they didn't fit they would be protists.

His great contribution is to have managed to wrap all the spices found around the world with a single theory and classify them into smaller subgroups.

It is worth noting that he did not advance too much in the detail of the species because he dedicated his time to obtain specific data from his different experiments.

The five kingdoms

This taxonomic model that Whittaker proposed took as elements to differentiate one creature from another its cellular characteristics, the form of nutrition, the differentiation of its tissues and its movement abilities, among other elements.

The system of the five kingdoms has permeated the scientific community very well for its simplicity and simplicity, as well as its usefulness. This has meant that even today it remains in force, although there are already studies and postulates that propose a new taxonomy.

The proposal of this scientist consisted in classifying unicellular organisms according to their cell type: if they did not have a nucleus, they were prokaryotes and were located in the monera kingdom; On the other hand, if they were cells with a nucleus or eukaryotes, they were within the classification of the protista kingdom.

In the other three kingdoms the multicellular organisms were located that differ from each other according to the process they use to obtain their nutrients.

The five kingdoms raised by Whittaker are as follows:

Monera

They are those unicellular prokaryotic organisms that do not have movement and if they do, they do so by displacement or by the presence of a flagellum.

Its mode of nutrition is absorbent and its reproduction is asexual. An example of this kingdom is bacteria.

Protista

They are microscopic organisms whose nucleus is cellular (eukaryotic) and which are predominantly unicellular. Regarding their nutrition, they can do it through photosynthesis like plants, or like animals that eat food.

They also have asexual reproduction; however, some species have sexual reproduction through the process of meiosis but a true embryo is needed. Examples of this kingdom are algae and protozoa.

Fungi

They are the well-known fungi, which are unicellular or multicellular organisms that have cells with a nucleus but are not organized in tissues.

Its nutrition process consists of secreting substances to dilute and then absorb from decomposing animal or plant compounds. As for its reproduction, it is through spores.

Animalia

It is the kingdom of animals, which are multicellular organisms whose cells are eukaryotic and do form tissues. Its reproduction process is sexual with the formation of gametes.

As for how they get their nutrients, they do so primarily through ingestion and digestion. Along with the plantae kingdom, this has been characterized as one of the most numerous.

The way to classify any new species is very simple, which has allowed the theory to be maintained over time without losing validity.

Plantae

This is the kingdom that contemplates plants. They are multicellular organisms, also eukaryotic cells with enough sophistication to form tissues.

Like those of the animalia kingdom, their reproduction is sexual. Unlike these, they are nourished through the process called photosynthesis.

Other contributions

As an outstanding ecologist, in addition to the transcendental contribution to science with the classification of the five kingdoms, Whittaker focused his professional work in the field of plant ecology, dedicating himself with care and care to the classification of natural species, to all the work taxonomic ordering and classification.

It is important to note that his advancement in gradient analysis was the first milestone for which he was recognized by the scientific community. Thus he proposed a whole scheme to determine the richness of species within a habitat group according to certain characteristics such as altitude.

With this gradient analysis, it is possible to understand the behavior of various species, as well as to study the configuration of patterns.

With only a few decades dedicated to science, it is clear that his premature death meant a loss for the scientific field and, consequently, for humanity.

References

1. Ausdesirk, T; Ausdesirk, G and Bruce, B. "Biology: Life on Earth" (2003) in Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2019 in Google Books: books.google.cl
2. "Biological Diversity and Classification" in Hypertexts in the area of ​​Biology. Retrieved July 3, 2019 in Hypertexts from the biology area: biologia.edu.ar
3. "System of the five kingdoms" at the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco. Retrieved July 3, 2019 at the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco: fcn.unp.edu.ar
4. Wentworth, T. "Robert H. Whittaker" (September 2013) in Oxford bibliographies. Retrieved July 3, 2019 in Oxford bibliographies: oxfordbibliographies.com
5. Whittaker, RH (1969). New Concepts of Kingdoms of Organisms. SCIENCE, VOL. 163. Iss 3863. Pp 150-160.