Prof. Dr. Ilkka Hanski (✝︎)

Ilkka Hanski has worked in population and community ecology and in conservation biology since the late 1970s. He has made contributions to the study of population regulation, cyclic population dynamics, and the mechanisms of coexistence of competitors in communities. Research conducted by him and his research group since the late 1980s has been instrumental for the development of metapopulation biology, a branch of biology with significance for conservation and management. The long-term and large-scale research project on the metapopulation biology of the Glanville fritillary butterfly is one of the best examples of how theoretical work can be effectively coupled with empirical studies in ecology.