Research through ants
Wilson studied at the University of Alabama before completing his Harvard doctorate in 1955. Ant classification, distribution and social life remained central to his work, supported by field collecting and museum specimens.
With William Brown in 1956 he discussed character displacement: related species may differ more where they occur together than where they occur separately. This connected taxonomic observations with questions about competition and species formation.
Immigration and extinction on islands
Wilson and Robert MacArthur published The Theory of Island Biogeography in 1967. It explained island species numbers through a balance between immigration and local extinction and examined how area and isolation affect those processes.
The framework later entered research on habitat fragmentation and conservation. Equilibrium species numbers allow continuing turnover in membership; they do not imply that every species remains permanently present.
References: [2]
Sociobiology and its controversies
The Insect Societies (1971) synthesized research on social insects. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975) approached animal social behaviour through evolutionary explanation; its concluding extension to humans provoked intense criticism.
The dispute concerned evidential limits and the social implications of biological explanations. Wilson developed his position further in On Human Nature (1978). His proposals, particular animal observations and critics’ assessments require separate treatment.
References: [1]
Advocating conservation
Through teaching, public writing and advocacy, Wilson encouraged attention to biodiversity. He supported public resources for species knowledge and brought habitat protection and species loss to audiences beyond academic biology.
His later Half-Earth proposal called for roughly half the planet to be reserved for nature. It was a conservation objective he advocated, rather than a description of policy already implemented worldwide.
References: [1]