Professor Esa Ranta

Abstract

(eastern Finland) on 29th August 2008; a place that had become very dear to him. Born 14th August 1953 in Himanka, Esa Ranta belonged to a generation of researchers whose work forever transformed ecology in Finland. The effort was concentrated at the cutting edge of internationally important science. Whether Esa focused on bumblebee communities, Daphnia in rock pools, schooling behaviour of sticklebacks, or the amazing intricacies of population dynamics in space and time, his approach to science was always more than a narrow-minded look at impact factors. He produced books on statistics and population ecology, and authored hundreds of publications. But even more importantly for him, to be worthwhile science had to be fun. No wonder Esa quickly became a larger than life character in ecology, both in Finland and internationally.