A primer on the history of food web ecology: Fundamental contributions of fourteen researchers

Food webs are one of the primary frameworks on which the ecological sciences have been built. Research in this field has burgeoned over recent decades, expanding into diverse sub-disciplines and employing many different methodological approaches. Here we structure a historical review around 14 researchers and the specific contributions they have made to the field. Beginning with Charles Elton's insights into food web structure, and continuing to contemporary ecologists and emerging areas of study, we highlight some of the most important empirical and theoretical advances made over the last century. The review highlights that there are fundamentally different ways in which food webs are depicted and studied. Specifically, when one views systems through mathematical, energy flow or functional lenses, very different perspectives on food web structure and dynamics emerge. The contributions of these scientists illustrate the considerable advances that the field has undergone, and they provide the foundation for expansive on-going research programs that fall under the broad umbrella of food web ecology.