Robert Collett

Collett feeding birds

Robert Collett (2 December 1842 – 27 January 1913) was a Norwegian zoologist. He worked with vertebrates, primarily fishes. From 1864 he was curator at the Zoological Museum in Oslo. In 1882 he became its director and from 1884 was a professor there. He described many new species of fish, spiders and other organisms.[1]

A popular book Norges pattedyr written by him was on the mammals of Norway. This book was to influence Charles Elton to study the periodic fluctuations in animal populations. The work by Elton on animal fluctuations, particularly those of lemmings challenged the idea that there was a balance in nature.[2]

Robert Collett was the oldest child of Peter Jonas and Camilla Collett. His maternal uncles included and Oscar and Henrik Wergeland, and his paternal uncles included Peter Severin Steenstrup. He had three younger brothers. He never married.[3][2]

References

  1. ↑ Collett, R. (1879). "On a new Fish of the Genus Lycodes from the Pacific.". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 47: 381–382. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1879.tb02667.x.
  2. 1 2 Stenseth, NC (1995). "The long-term study of voles, mice and lemmings: homage to Robert Collett". Trends Ecol. Evol. 10 (12): 512.
  3. ↑ University of Oslo

External links

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